A Shaw Airman is coping with a debilitating, life-threatening illness which took years to diagnose. Now Senior Airman Jake Tate is left working through not only daily pain, but the struggle of "what's next".
Tate and his family moved to Shaw in 2008. Shortly after, he noticed 45 to 60 strange cyst-like lumps on his stomach, legs, arms and back. Tate says he “really didn’t think that much about it, they were kind of tender to the touch but not giving me a lot of problems".
Months later he decided to see a dermatologist who told him they were limpomas and everyone has them and that it was not a big deal. Limpomas are benign tumors made up of fatty tissue. That diagnosis was not enough for him, Tate wanted action, and started the process of having them removed every 2 weeks but they were growing back just as fast. So he visited an endocrinologist.
Tate says, “I was literally there for 15 minutes and she gave me a diagnosis for Dercum's disease." After 2 years Tate had a diagnosis... but that news was bittersweet. There is no cure for Dercum's and very little treatment.
At 24, tate now has more than 850 limpomas and suffers from constant fatigue and memory loss. He says despite his physical pain, not knowing what his future holds medically is the hard. But his battle against Dercum's will continue for his family and his quality of life.
In rare cases... Dercum's Disease can cause death from related complications. For more information on Dercum’s visit http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/dercum-disease
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