Scamfluencers - Listen Now: MrBallen's Medical Mysteries

Episode Date: October 22, 2024

The human body is a miracle. But when it’s not working, it can be the stuff of nightmares. On this new series from master storyteller MrBallen, we’re sharing medical horror stories and diagnostic mysteries that are surgically calibrated to make your blood run cold.From bizarre, unheard-of diseases and miraculous recoveries to strange medical mishaps and unexplainable deaths — you’ll never hear the phrase “heart-stopping” in the same way again. MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries is a first-of-its-kind collaboration between MrBallen and Wondery, the award-winning company behind Dr. Death. Listen to MrBallen’s Medical Mysteries wherever you get your podcasts: Wondery.fm/MrBallenMedicalMysteriesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We've all been there, turning to the internet to self-diagnose inexplicable pains, sudden fevers and strange rashes. Usually it's nothing, but for an unlucky few, these unsuspecting symptoms can start the clock ticking on a terrifying medical mystery. Each week on Mr. Bolland's Medical Mysteries podcast, you can expect bizarre, unheard-of diseases, strange medical mishaps, unexplainable deaths, and everything in between. Like the episode Needle in a Haystack, where a little girl falls prey to a disease so deadly and rare that the CDC fears it might be an act of bioterrorism.

Investigators scrambled to find the source as more patients fell victim, but the answer came from somewhere no one was expecting. With each episode, it's become more and more clear that these extraordinary and often terrifying stories reveal just how common the uncommon can be. Follow Mr. Bolland's medical stood on the street watching in amazement as people in white hazmat suits carried dozens of items out of her house inside of plastic ziplock bags. It looked like her beloved home was now being used as the set for a science fiction film. But the woman knew that the unfolding disaster

in front of her was all too real. Her daughter had recently become infected by a deadly mysterious bacteria, and nobody had any idea where it had come from. So not only were this woman and her family at risk, but thousands of other people could be too. That's why on this warm summer afternoon, officials from the Centers for Disease Control, or CDC for short, were scouring this woman's property, gathering samples of soil, plants,

food, and other household items for their laboratories to analyze. As the woman stood in front of her house out on the road, she closed her eyes and prayed that the CDC's search of her home would be successful. Something in her house had already nearly killed her daughter. If they couldn't find the source of the bacteria, her home would continue to be a danger to the people she loved the most. From Ballin Studios and Wondry, I'm Mr. Ballen, and this is Mr. Ballen's Medical Mysteries, where every week we will explore a new baffling mystery originating from the one place we

all can't escape — our own bodies. So if you liked today's story, the next time the follow button is not home, release a family of wild raccoons into their attic. This episode is called Needle in a Haystack. Josie Baker smiled as she watched her four-year-old daughter, Lila, hunt for frogs near the stream behind their house. Josie's other daughter, one-year-old Adelaide, gripped her mother's hand as she wobbled forward to see what her big sister was up to.

On this sunny afternoon in late March of 2021, the 24-year-old mother felt like her dreams were actually coming true. Just over a year ago, Josie had moved into this small house in the farmlands north of Dallas, Texas with her family. They all loved the fresh air and wide open space, and little Lila had become close friends with the cows that grazed in the pasture next door. Josie shared her daughter's love of animals. She actually worked as a veterinary assistant in a local animal hospital, and the family

had even taken in a pet raccoon named Jinx. Josie checked her watch and realized her husband, Dustin, would be home soon from his job as a firefighter and paramedic, and so she needed to start fixing dinner. She called out to Lila and scooped up baby Adelaide, then the whole crew headed for the back door of their house. But the moment Josie stepped inside the house, she was overwhelmed by a strong floral smell, like someone nearby was wearing way too much perfume. Josie held her nose and peeked inside the kitchen.

And it was a total mess. Cabinet doors were wide open, and it looked like the food inside had been hurled across the room. Boxes of cereal and bags of chips were ripped open and spilled all over the counter and the floor. The cabinet under the kitchen sink was also open, and broken bottles of dishwashing detergent and other cleaning supplies were spread out all over the place. And when Josie looked closely, she saw something else—tiny animal footprints tracking the mess out of the room. Now Josie knew exactly what had happened

to her kitchen. Jinx, their raccoon, had ransacked it. Jynx was supposed to live in an enclosure in the living room, but clearly he'd escaped and decided to have some fun in the kitchen. Josie ultimately found Jynx hiding under the bed in Lila's bedroom, and while she was mad, she couldn't really stay mad at him as he stared out at her with his little black cute eyes. And so Josie coaxed him out with some food before picking him up and returning him to his pen. As she swept up the broken glass in the kitchen, Josie felt like she actually had kind of dodged a bullet here. Because, you know, this could have been a whole lot worse if maybe her girls

had come into the house ahead of her and maybe got cut on all the shards of glass lying around. And so as she dumped the trash into a wastebasket, she had to admit to herself that all in all, the whole scene in front of her was actually kind of funny. You know, while the house may be a total mess and a total pain to clean up, one thing was certain, their little raccoon jinx, after breaking into all the cleaning supplies, was now the sweetest smelling raccoon in the state of Texas. Two weeks later, after tucking in the girls for the night, Josie walked back out to the living room to snuggle up on the couch with her husband Dustin.

But when she stepped into the room, she found Dustin standing in the corner, staring into Jinx's enclosure. Josie was curious, and so she walked over to see what he was looking at, and when she looked down, she gasped. Jinx was acting so weird. The raccoon swayed and staggered as he walked around his enclosure, almost like he was drunk. He also kept bumping into objects and walls, which made Josie think maybe his vision was impaired.

Because of her job as a veterinary technician, Josie had been around plenty of sick animals, but Jinx's condition was something she'd actually never seen before in any other animal. So she told Dustin that she would bring Jinx with her to the animal hospital first thing in the morning. The next morning, Josie stood by while one of the vets at her hospital examined her raccoon. But after a few minutes, the vet turned to Josie and admitted that they too were totally stumped by whatever was bothering Jinx. They didn't understand what it was.

Josie agreed that the best course of action now would be to keep Jinx under observation at the hospital and run some additional tests. But over the course of his stay, nothing the veterinarians did seemed to help Jinx, and in fact, Jinx just seemed to get sicker and sicker until he basically just lay in his cage, panting with his tongue out. And then two days after he had come to the hospital, Jinx died. Josie was devastated, but she was far more concerned about how her daughter Lila would react to Jinx's passing.

She was going to be absolutely heartbroken. The day after Jinx's death, the Baker family walked solemnly down the path behind their house towards the stream, and they buried Jinx under a tree. At the end of the service, Josie kneeled down and helped a very sad Lila plant flowers atop her beloved pet's final resting place. A few weeks later, on the afternoon of May 29th, Josie sat on her living room couch right next to Lila, who for the past couple of days had been vomiting and running a fever. Her pediatrician had said that it was probably just the stomach flu and recommended rest and fluids.

So Josie had pulled together all these pillows and blankets and put them on the couch to let her daughter relax and watch TV while she recuperated. However, as Josie looked at her sleeping daughter beside her, she felt increasingly worried. Josie had been carefully following the doctor's instructions, but Lila's fever really hadn't broken yet and she was still struggling to keep her food down. Lila had been sleeping for a couple of hours now, so Josie gently placed her hand on Lila's forehead and whispered to her to wake up so she could drink some water. But as Lila slowly opened her eyes, Josie could see that they looked glazed over and unfocused.

Josie tried to help Lila sit up, but the little girl could barely lift her head. Josie immediately wrapped her daughter in a blanket and carried her to the car. Her barely conscious four-year-old needed to see a doctor right away.