How often have you wished you or someone you know could be entirely free of pain? Have you thought of such an existance as ideal? Most of us have entertained that sort of notion before, but it’s a false one.
Pain is a vital tool our body uses to determine if a situation is potentally or actively harmful. If we could not tell a shower was too hot, for instance, we could easily burn ourselves. Not knowing a knife was sharp, we could cut ourselves inadvertently. Through pain we learned much about our world as children, from the annoyance of mosquito bites to the heat of an oven.
You can imagine how challenging the life of Ashlyn Blocker, a girl of five years who has CIPA (congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis), a disease that makes her unable to feel pain, must be. Ashlyn is, of course, fearless, having no deterrant to doing dangerous things. Her parents and teachers are given an amplified responsibility of keeping her from harm. Since the girl feels no pain, she can go about without noticing if she has injured herself or is at risk. As her mother said, quite in contrast with common sentiment, “I’d give anything for her to feel pain.”
Interestingly, Ashlyn can still feel other types of sensations.
Pain is a vital tool our body uses to determine if a situation is potentally or actively harmful. If we could not tell a shower was too hot, for instance, we could easily burn ourselves. Not knowing a knife was sharp, we could cut ourselves inadvertently. Through pain we learned much about our world as children, from the annoyance of mosquito bites to the heat of an oven.
You can imagine how challenging the life of Ashlyn Blocker, a girl of five years who has CIPA (congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis), a disease that makes her unable to feel pain, must be. Ashlyn is, of course, fearless, having no deterrant to doing dangerous things. Her parents and teachers are given an amplified responsibility of keeping her from harm. Since the girl feels no pain, she can go about without noticing if she has injured herself or is at risk. As her mother said, quite in contrast with common sentiment, “I’d give anything for her to feel pain.”
Interestingly, Ashlyn can still feel other types of sensations.
The untreatable disease also makes Ashlyn incapable of sensing extreme temperatures — hot or cold — disabling her body’s ability to cool itself by sweating. Otherwise, her senses are normal.
Ashlyn can feel the texture of nickels and dimes she sorts into piles on her bedroom floor, the heft of the pink backpack she totes to school and the embrace of a hug. She feels hunger cravings for her favorite after-school snack, pickles and strawberry milk. – “Girl With Rare Disease Doesn’t Know Pain”, CNN.com
Ashlyn can feel the texture of nickels and dimes she sorts into piles on her bedroom floor, the heft of the pink backpack she totes to school and the embrace of a hug. She feels hunger cravings for her favorite after-school snack, pickles and strawberry milk. – “Girl With Rare Disease Doesn’t Know Pain”, CNN.com
We should all be thankful that we have what senses we do, as there’s no connection to the world other than experiencing it.
1 comment on “Feel No Pain”
i am doing a report on this dease and it is so hard to find info because of how rare it is.