Natalie Adler: The Woman Who Turns Blind 3 Days a Week

Open and shut case: Natalie Adler tries to cram as much as she can into her open eye days, which are marked in her diary months ahead

Melbourne: An Australian woman becomes blind for three days a week when her eyes clamp shut voluntarily for the period and she can't open them, a baffling medical condition according to experts.

Natalie Adler (21), who doctors believe may be the only person in the world with this condition, has been living with the extraordinary visual impairment for four years.

"My eyes are closed for three days and then open for three days," said Adler. "I go to bed and I can open my eyes, and then when I wake up the next day I can't," she explained adding, "Nobody knows why."

During 'closed eye days' her eyes are completely shut, except for a small slit in her left eye. On 'open eye days' they function normally, although the left eyelid sometimes droops. Adler tries to cram as much as she can into those good days, which are marked in her diary months ahead. "On my 18th birthday my eyes were closed but on my 21st they were open, so I had a party," she said.

The Pooch With Bionic Leg Worth Rs 8 Lakh in UK

LONDON: What do you call a dog whose one leg alone is worth over Rs 8 lakh? His owner Reg Walker — the man who spent this whopping sum on him — calls him Coal.

Coal is one of two animals in the world to be fitted with a unique bionic limb costing £10,000 (approx Rs 8,26,000), which was a result of groundbreaking research.

Last year, Coal had to have his left paw amputated after suffering from cancer. But when doctors told Walker that the eight-year-old American bulldog would have to be put down since his other limbs weren’t strong enough to carry his weight, he was determined to do all he could to save Coal.

Walker, a top security expert in the music industry, said: “When I found out about Coal I was gutted. He goes everywhere with me — he goes on tour, he's the only dog to have allowed into Live 8 and the only dog that has ever been backstage at the Royal Albert Hall.” The advanced prosthetic technique was used to help a victim of the 7/7 London bombings. Experts say it is the only implant in the world that allows skin and bone to grow into it. “It is the holy grail of research,” Vet Noel Fitzpatrick said to the Enfield Independent. “If you have an accident and your bone sticks out through your shin, skin will try to grow round it. People have been trying for this for years and years because with this we get an umbrella of skin attached to the metal.”

And while researchers are thrilled with this breakthrough, Coal and Walker are just happy to be together. “Now he has an absolutely normal quality of life, which he wouldn't have had before.”

The 90-Year-Old Who Has Cheated Death 14 Times!

The Lukiest man on Earth, Alec Alder survived four car crashes, three wartime bombings and even a plane crashing into his room.

LONDON: Alec Alder has survived car crashes, war-time bombing and has even walked away after a fighter jet smashed into the side of his house as he slept. Other escapes include a 15ft fall from a tree in 1926 and a close shave when he avoided being sent to Dunkirk in 1939 — where his whole squadron were killed. Now, the grandfather of six from Stroud says he must be the “luckiest fella alive” and is amazed he has made it to 90. The first of his near-death experie n c e s came as a 10-year-old, when he was hit by a car as he cycled down a narrow lane. Alder said, “I went around the corner and there was a car in front of me. I went straight into the car, up into the air and landed spread-eagle on the bonnet.” The driver turned out to be a doctor who was able to treat him at the scene and save his life.

Later, he managed to avoid getting wiped out in Dukirk during World Ward II. In 1942, he was taking part in military training exercises in Yorkshire, when he was run over by a tank. “It had gone over my foot when the engine stopped. If he had gone further, he would have killed me.”

Later that year, he survived a plane crash into his room. “It only missed my head by inches. The roof collapsed around me and the plane burst into flames and crashed into the garden,” he said.

Towards the end of the war, Alder was sent to Burma where he broke his leg playing football. He was sent to a hospital in India where a ward matron converted him to Christianity. He said, “She said, ‘You’re giving only five per cent of your time to God, but He wants a hundred per cent.’

ALEC’S 14 NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES
1926 Fell 15ft from a tree
1929 Collided head-on with a car and landed on the bonnet.
1939 Narrowly avoided death in Dunkirk as his company was changed due to his wedding
1940 Bombed as he guarded an airfield in Kent
1940 Bombed again
1942 A runaway tank’s engine stalled seconds before crushing him to death
1942 Almost hit by a plane that crashed into his room
1943 Avoided being destroyed after the engine on his ship cut out amidst German U-boats
1944 Threatened with being shot by a soldier in Burma
1944 Avoided being killed by the enemy in Burma after a fracture landed him in hospital
1945 Nearly sunk by a ferocious storm off Gibraltar
1947 Avoided being crushed in his car by a lorry
1977 Survived a head-on road collision because the other clipped the kerb.
1997 Nearly hit by doors that swung open on the lorry in front of him while driving

Cat Man: The Man Who Underwent Surgery to Look Like a Tiger

Dennis Avner works as a computer programmer

London: He has surgically pointed ears, sharpened teeth, implanted whiskers and tiger tattoos covering his entire body and face. Cat Man, whose real name is Dennis Avner (50), is an American computer programmer by day, and a feline by night. Dennis has devoted much of his life to transforming himself into a tiger and now likes to be known simply as Cat. Claiming he has the soul of a tiger, he even eats raw meat and climbs trees to feel more at one with his animal friends. Cat was in London to publicise the new Ripley's Believe It Or Not! museum. Cat has spent a fortune on changing his face and body into that of a cat, but doesn't regret it.

20 surgeries

He said, "My work began in 1985, when I had tattoo work on my face. Since then I have spent an uncalculated amount on my transformation to tiger, including around 20 operations on my face to recreate my upper lip, implant silicone in my cheeks and implants to enlarge my brow and forehead. "I also have several piercings that I can attach whiskers."

Double life

Cat lives a double life, being a human at work and a cat on weekends. He said, "During the day, I'm like any other man who works in an office. The only difference is I look like a cat. "My free time is when I behave like a tiger. I love climbing trees, but as I get older I'm finding that that's not an easy job." Having so far failed to find his perfect mate, Cat is still on the prowl for a woman to share his life with. He says, "I'm seeing a couple of women now. They understand that being a tiger is important to me, which is difficult for many women to cope with."

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