Mr. Ballin (8:35)

Our next story is called Night and Day.

Narrator (8:50)

In the late afternoon of May 1, 2016, 13 year old Shoehe Bahmed and his 9 year old brother Abdul Rashid chased a soccer ball across a dusty plain near their little rural town in Pakistan. Abdul, who was very athletic and quick on his feet, managed to kick the ball past the defender and then kicked a line drive shot right at the net. But at the last second, the goalie jumped and blocked the shot. And so Abdul threw his hands up in exasperation. But even though he was frustrated, he missed a shot. He was having a blast. He loved playing soccer with his brother and the neighborhood kids. But as much fun as he was having, Abdul at some point looked up and he noticed the sun was starting to set behind the mountains. And immediately when he saw that, the expression on his face went completely deadpan. And then he looked over at his brother Shoaib, who also had noticed the sun was setting. And by this point Shoaib was already rushing over to Abdul. He grabbed Abdul's hand and the two brothers, without a word to their friends who were just kind of standing there watching, they took off and just hustled back towards their home. The brothers made it to their home, but on the porch, Shoaib, the older brother, just collapsed onto the ground with his arms and legs going totally stiff and his jaw locking up to the point where he couldn't even speak. And Abdul, instead of trying to help his brother, just stepped clear over him and ran into the house and made it to his bed just in time for him to also collapse, but onto the bed with his arms and legs being just as stiff as his brother's and his jaw also being locked so he couldn't even speak. And then moments later, the boy's father would scoop Shoaib off the porch, carry him into the bedroom and put him in a bed, cover him up, and then the father would rotate Abdul, who was on his stomach, over onto his back and he put the covers over him and then the father just left and got into his own bed and went to sleep. And this was A typical night in this family's household. The next day, a convoy of fancy cars descended on this little village where shoaib and Abdul lived. And in these vehicles were all these scientists from Pakistan's institute of medical sciences. And they had heard about the boys nightly bizarre collapses.

Mr. Ballin (11:13)

And.

Narrator (11:13)

And they wanted to find out if the condition was real. Now, if the scientists had arrived in the village before sunrise, they would have found Abdul and Shoaib still in their beds in a semi comatose state, unable to move. But it was almost noon by the time the scientists arrived. And so when they saw the two boys, they were outside goofing around and playing, acting like everything was totally fine in the village. Neighbors referred to Abdul and Shoaib as the solar boys because they were only normal and active. And like the other kids, during the daylight hours when the sun was up. And then at night, they would become totally paralyzed and mute. Now, the villagers saw this happening, but they didn't really believe it necessarily. They thought maybe the kids were making it up to get attention, or maybe they were doing it as like a grift to get people to donate money to the family. But Shoaib and Abdul's father completely denied this and said they had not made any money from what was happening to his sons. And all they wanted to do was just figure out what was wrong with them so they could help them. The scientists would talk to Abdul and Shoaib's father first, and he would explain to them that really, since Abdul and Shoaib were very little, they had been suffering from these nightly paralysis events. And so, with the family's permission, these scientists got to work. They collected blood and urine samples, not just from Shoaib and Abdul, but but from the entire family. And then also the scientists tested Abdul and Shoaib's balance and coordination, you know, obviously during the daytime. And the boys both did completely fine. And then as sunset approached, the scientists just stood there and watched as Abdul and Shoheb slowly lost control of their bodies and became paralyzed and mute. And then throughout the night, these scientists just continued to watch them. And the boys did not move at all.

Mr. Ballin (13:06)

And.

Narrator (13:06)

And then when the scientists attempted to kind of move their limbs for them, they were so rigid, almost like rigor mortis after you die, that they really couldn't move their limbs at all. And then the next morning, as the scientists were watching, the sun came up, and it was like suddenly Abdul and Shoaib were totally back to normal. They popped out of bed with a smile on their face, able to move around no problem. And so to the scientists who watched this go on were left thinking, okay, there's no way these kids could be faking this. Like, no one could fake this. This is real. But the scientists really didn't have any new information to pass to the family because, you know, the boy's blood and urine samples came back completely normal, and they had passed all of their balance and coordination tests. And so it seemed like, you know, Abdul and Shoaib should be totally normal, healthy boys, but they. They just weren't. And these scientists didn't know why. Now, these scientists were not the first group of people who had tried to solve the mystery of the solar kits. For years, their father had been trying to find someone who could help them, but he was having no success. Doctors in the nearest hospital to their village were convinced that the boys had a rare illness that made them extreme tired only a couple of hours after waking up in the morning. But Abdul and Shoaib had loads of energy all day long. It was only when the sun came down that they became totally paralyzed. And so the father didn't believe those doctors were really taking this that seriously. The imam at a local mosque was convinced the boys were possessed by demons. And so he organized an exorcism where a group of religious leaders basically tapped on the boys with sticks while chanting in rhythm and dousing them with holy water. But that didn't work. And so the family was close to giving up on ever finding help for their sons. But then in April of 2016, so a month before that team of scientists descended on the village to research the boys, a TV news reporter from Pakistan's version of CNN came to the village to interview the family. Because this reporter had heard about this strange condition these boys had. And this interview was seen by millions and millions of people, including Pakistan's most esteemed and influential doctor, a man named Dr. Javed Akram, who happened to be the vice chancellor of Pakistan's Institute of Medical Sciences. Dr. Akram had never heard of such a strange condition. And so he was the one who ordered those team of scientists to go to the village and research this family. And after those scientists came back and checked in with Dr. Ockram, it was clear they had not had a sort of breakthrough moment with regards to what was going on with these boys, but they were very convinced that this was a real condition. And so Dr. Ockram decided that he and his team would just continue to study this family until they figured out what the heck was going on with these two boys. And finally, a year later, in May of 2017, Dr. Ockram believed he had figured out what was wrong with them, and he even had a solution. But his solution was so simple that Dr. Ockram actually kind of second guessed himself, thinking, you know, this is too good to be true. So the doctor decided he would run one more experiment just to test his theory and make sure he really was correct. And so Dr. Akram flew Abdul, Shoaib, and their father out to his institute in Islamabad. And that night, Dr. Akram watched as the two boys slowly slipped into paralysis as the sun went down. But this time, as soon as the paralysis was clearly beginning, Dr. Akram gave each of the boys a pillow. And 40 minutes would go by. And suddenly, Abdul, who was totally mute and laying there, still, broke into a smile. And then he raised his right leg, and then Shoaib right next to him. He too smiled and turned his head. And then 20 minutes after that, both boys were up on their feet, totally fine, laughing and joking. Because they had never really done anything at night. They were always paralyzed. As soon as it started to get dark, it would turn out. Dr. Akram and his team had discovered a very strange mutation in Abdul and Shoaib. Our brains naturally produce all sorts of chemicals that keep them running. And one of those chemicals is called dopamine. Dopamine does several things, but one of those things is it controls muscle movement. The mutation that Dr. Akram and his team had discovered was that the boy's genes were mistakenly shutting off dopamine production every single night. And so that was why they were becoming totally paralyzed. This mutation was the result of a series of complex genetic mistakes. But the fix was actually quite simple. The pill that Dr. Akram gave Abdul and Shoaib was just a dopamine pill. And what it did is it basically just turned the boys bodies back on. And so Dr. Akram and his team had discovered quite possibly the world's rarest disease, only afflicting one family. But fortunately, they had also found the cure too. And so Abdul and Shoaib, from that day forward, lived totally normal lives by taking their dopamine pills every night.

Mr. Ballin (19:00)

It's officially 2025, and this year I plan on really focusing on my health. I'm going to start to really take stock of what I put into my body. And that means a lot more hydration and healthy eating, which means no more midnight snacks and no more binging carbs. But the good news is, with Herobred, I can focus on my health goals and still indulge in the soft fluffy experience. I love guilt free like enjoying a nutritious breakfast wrap, avocado toast, grilled cheese with a cozy soup or family burger night. Herobread's products are delicious and flavorful but they have ultra low net carbs, zero grams of sugar and they're high in fiber. But you'd never know it's low net carb and high fiber bread from the texture. Get the soft fluffy experience you know and love with your next savory breakfast sandwich, late night grilled cheese or family taco Tuesday. No compromises, just flavor. Herobred is seriously awesome. Their tortillas are great for my lunch wraps, their bagels hit the spot for breakfast, and their sliced bread loaves are absolutely my go to for sandwiches. I honestly forget I'm eating healthy bread. Just bread and Herobred is offering 10% off your order. Go to Hero Co and use code Ballen at checkout. That's Ballenhero Co. It seems like I can't go anywhere these days without paying an extra fee. We pay extra fees at the movies, on an airplane, buying concert tickets, you name it. When we're trying to make progress in our lives, it's like life's financial curveballs feel like we're taking one step forward and then two steps back. A Chime checking account makes financial progress easier with features like no maintenance fees, fee free overdraft up to two $200, or getting paid up to two days early with direct deposit. Learn more at chime.comballin Chime has taken all the things I want from a traditional banking experience and puts them in one super easy to use app that I can use literally anywhere. It's made my life a lot easier. I can check my account balances, send money to friends, deposit checks, and There are over 50,000 fee free ATMs. Join millions of Chime members who are working on financial progress. There are no monthly fees or hidden fees and if you mistakenly overdraw your account, you can set it up so that there are no fees for overdrawing up to $200 and then your next deposit is automatically applied to your overdrawn balance. Make progress towards a better financial future with Chime. Open your account in two minutes@chime.com ballen that's chime.com ballin Chime feels like Progress Banking Services and Debit card provided by the Bancorp Bank NA or Stride Bank NA members. FDIC Spot Me eligibility requirements and overdraft limits apply. Boosts are available to eligible Chime members enrolled in Spotme and are subject to monthly limits. Timing depends on submission. Payment file fees apply at out of network ATMs. The next and final story of today's episode is called leg pain.

Narrator (21:52)

On the afternoon of February 1, 2013, a retired army veteran named Robert Smith limped his way into the emergency room at the Veterans Affairs Medical center in Washington, dc. Robert checked in at the triage desk, but then instead of sitting down with the rest of the patients who were waiting, he leaned up against the wall and just grimaced. Robert was in his late 60s, and up until just a few days ago, he felt like he was in the best health he had been in since leaving the service. Robert had gotten a kidney transplant a year and a half earlier, and after getting that operation, he really wanted to make sure he stayed healthy. And so he had been going on regular walks and eating healthy, and so really he was doing great. But a few days ago, Robert had noticed this throbbing pain in his right hip that was shooting pain all the way down his right leg. And he assumed, you know, this had to be from maybe overdoing it on one of his walks. But the pain had continued to get worse and worse over the last few days, and so that was why he was finally here at the hospital. A nurse eventually called Robert's name, and so Robert, he came off the wall and hobbled over to her, and she led him down a hallway into an exam room. Once they got inside the room, the nurse would take Robert's vitals, which were all normal. And then after doing that, she said she was going to go out and get the doctor. A couple minutes later, the doctor walked into the room and she reviewed Robert's chart and talked to Robert about his symptoms. And then afterward, she concluded that very likely what Robert had was something called sciatica. Sciatica is pain caused by pressure on the sciatic nerve, which travels from the lower back down each leg. And while sciatica is definitely very uncomfortable and very painful, it's not usually a big deal. And it typically clears up on its own without treatment. And so the doctor told Robert that he should just go pick up some ibuprofen, so over the counter pain medication and take that every couple of hours and just wait for this thing to pass, and then he'd be fine. And so Robert was totally relieved. He thanked the doctor, he thanked the nurse, and then he left and headed back to his home. But despite doing what the doctor said and taking pain meds and just kind of taking it easy, the pain in Robert's leg did not go away. And Then, on the morning of February 4th, so three days after Robert's trip to the ER, he woke up, and not only was his right hip and leg still sore, but now when he tried to stand up, he couldn't put any weight on his right leg. It just felt too weak, and it was kind of tingly. You know, something just felt off about it. And also, Robert felt very nauseous. And so Robert told himself that, you know, maybe what was going on here is he was taking too much ibuprofen, and it was upsetting his stomach, and maybe it was also affecting his leg negatively or something. He didn't know. And so that day, he just sat on the couch and watched tv, trying to tell himself that he was okay. It's just sciatica, you know, take a little less pain meds and you'll be okay. But that didn't work, because the next day when he woke up, he was in even worse shape. Now, he not only had this pain and weakness in his right leg, and he had nausea still, but also he now had this new pain in his abdomen that was located right around where the scar was from his kidney transplant. And Robert was also starting to spike a fever. And fevers in transplant patients are a really big deal, because a fever in a transplant patient could mean an infection. People who get transplants are then given medication that keep their bodies from rejecting their new organ or organs. This medication works by basically suppressing that person's immune system. This prevents the body from mistakenly attacking the new organ, but it also means that if their body gets a real infection, they will have a really hard time fighting it off, because again, this medicine is basically stopping the immune system. And so when Robert saw he had a fever in conjunction with these other symptoms that were not going away, he knew he had to go back to the hospital, because obviously, this was not just sciatica. Robert was too sick and weak to drive himself to the hospital, so he asked his neighbor to drive him. And as they were driving to the hospital, you know, Robert basically sat in the passenger seat, rocking back and forth, not saying anything because he was so uncomfortable. And the neighbor, the whole time they're driving, they just kept looking over at Robert, because not only did Robert look totally miserable, but also Robert was sweating profusely, like, so much so that it looked like he had just sprinted a 5K. I mean, he was drenched in sweat. And so the neighbor's looking at him thinking, like, what's wrong with this guy? Finally, the neighbor arrived at the hospital, and Robert, he managed to get out on his own. And he thanked the neighbor. And then Robert hobbled his way back through the doors into the er. And then a few minutes later, Robert was in an exam room, and his doctor walked in. And she took one look at him and saw how horrible he looked. And without any hesitation, she said, you're getting admitted right now. It was clear to Robert's doctors that he had some kind of virus or infection that his body was trying and failing to fight off. When they tested his blood, they saw his white blood cell count was elevated, which is a sign that the body's immune system is launching some kind of a response. But the doctors didn't know what his immune system was responding to. Even though Robert had this acute pain in his abdomen around the site of the kidney transplant, his kidneys seemed to be working just fine. And so whatever was going on with him didn't seem to be linked to his transplant. The profuse sweating did seem pretty odd, but considering Robert had a really high fever, it wasn't totally inexplicable. So basically, Robert's symptoms were weird, but kind of generic. They didn't tell the doctors specifically what was wrong with him. They just knew something was wrong. So they just hooked Robert up to an IV and began administering a broad spectrum antibiotic, which is something that treats a whole variety of different infections. And then after that, the doctors just began testing Robert over and over and over again for all these different things that could be the cause for his illness. But every test they ran came back negative. And at the same time, over the couple of weeks that they ran all these tests, Robert just kept getting sicker and sicker and sicker. His fever wasn't going away. He was still sweating profusely. His blood pressure was all over the map, and he had even begun drooling almost uncontrollably to the point where he didn't even speak because he was so embarrassed about it. But to the doctors, the scariest symptom that Robert was now showing two weeks into staying at the hospital was he was starting to act really confused, like he didn't know where he was, he didn't know why he was there. And so that told the doctors that, you know, whatever his body was fighting, it had made its way up into his brain. And so the doctors knew, you know, Robert did not have much time left. But they had tried every test they could think of, and Robert had tested negative for all of them. And so, as kind of like a hail Mary, because they had nothing to lose, the medical staff decided to just start testing Robert for basically completely random diseases that he almost certainly did not have. But basically, if any of these illnesses had a symptom that Robert had, they would test him for it. And all these tests came back negative, except for one on February 22nd. So 17 days after Robert had been admitted to the hospital, this test came back positive. And when the doctors saw what he was testing positive for, they immediately assumed, this has to be a mistake. There is no way he has that. However, the only way to truly confirm that diagnosis Was to literally cut into Robert's brain, which would kill him. And so, obviously, they were not going to do that. So the doctors basically just had to take this diagnosis at face value. And they tried giving various medications to Robert, but it was obvious none of them were working. And so the doctors felt like there wasn't much they could do, and they just began focusing instead on keeping Robert comfortable. And then finally, on February 27th, so 22 days into Robert's stay at the hospital, he would die from this mystery illness. During Robert's autopsy, the medical examiner was able to perform that test that doctors could not perform on him when he was alive, and that was to cut into his brain. And when the doctor cut into his brain, he saw very clearly, without a shadow of a doubt, that, yes, Robert really was positive for that very, very rare virus, and it absolutely is the thing that killed him. But this was not the end of the case, because the virus that killed Robert Was not just rare, it was also highly contagious, which meant the doctors needed to figure out how Robert got this virus to protect other people from getting it, too. But the staff at this hospital knew they were not equipped to lead this investigation, and so they handed the case over to the centers for disease control, or the cdc, which is the world's leading disease tracking agency. Investigators for the CDC began looking into Robert's case a couple of days later. They sifted through the days and the weeks leading up to Robert's hospitalization In an effort to try to retrace Robert's footsteps, to figure out what made him sick. Now, they didn't have any leads. The only thing they agreed on was that very likely, Even though Robert had that pain around his scar where the transplant was, that very likely, the transplant did not have to do with whatever killed him, Because Robert's kidney had been working fine, and his transplant had happened 17 months earlier. And typically, complications from transplants Will happen much sooner. And so they basically had ruled the transplant out as being the cause. But one of the CDC Investigators decided to look into the transplant file anyways, just to see if maybe something got missed or if maybe there was some detail about the donor that was relevant to what happened to Robert or. And so this investigator got the file and began going through it. Robert Stoner's name was William Edward Small. And at the time of his death, he was 20 years old and serving in the Air Force. Now, none of that stood out to the CDC investigator, but William's cause of death definitely did, even though it really did not appear to have a connection to Robert. It was just so weird and unexpected. The CDC investigator would read that back in September of 2011, William was out fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, and he caught a fish, and he ate that fish. And it gave him something called ciguatera poisoning. Ciguatera poisoning is something you get when you eat a fish that contains microalgae toxins. And so William, he ate this fish that was contaminated. And not long after that, he had died. But when the CDC investigator read through all of William's symptoms before he died, they basically exactly lined up with all of Robert's symptoms. William had developed pain and weakness in his extremities. He developed a very high fever. He became nauseous. He also lost the ability to swallow. And then he became totally confused and then died. And so when the CDC investigators saw this incredible coincidence, she knew she was onto something. But first, she would need more information about William. And so, very quickly, the CDC got in touch with Williams family, and they asked them all these questions about William. And finally, after hearing the answers from the family, the CDC finally figured out what actually happened to Robert and what actually happened to William. It would turn out William was not just a fisherman. He was also a hunter and a trapper. And he had a very specific way he would go about training his hunting dogs. He would capture wild raccoons and use them as live bait to train his hunting dogs how to hunt. Now, William was always very cautious with these wild raccoons. But in the year and a half leading up to his death, he was bit two different times by raccoons. And it was one of those two raccoon bites, not some toxic fish in the Gulf of Mexico that killed William and killed Robert. William did not die from ciguatera poisoning. He died from rabies. And the rabies virus that was in his kidney was still present when it was taken out of his dead body and transplanted into Robert's body. And so that was how Robert got rabies. Rabies can look like the common flu at first, people feel achy and nauseous, they get fevers, their stomach starts to hurt. Some people affected by rabies will drool uncontrollably like Robert, or they'll lose the ability to swallow like William. But for everybody who contracts rabies and who does not get a vaccine right away, because a vaccine does stop rabies in the early stage. So if you don't do that, everybody dies. That's what rabies does to you. It kills you. Now, you'd think, you know, maybe we should be testing organs for rabies before they get transplanted. But you got to remember that rabies is so, so rare. Only one or two people a year in the entire United States will die from rabies. And so it's just not something doctors are going to screen for because the percentage chance that they could have rabies is basically zero. Ultimately, Robert was not the only person who received an organ transplant from William. There were three other people that received his organs. Luckily though, the CDC was able to track those three people down and all of them were totally healthy and not showing any signs of rabies. So either they didn't have it or they were super early stage, which meant they were eligible for the rabies vaccine. They all got the vaccine and they lived happily ever after.

Mr. Ballin (36:45)

A quick note about our stories. They are all based on true events, but we sometimes use pseudonyms to protect the people involved and some details are fictionalized for dramatic purposes. Thank you for listening to the Mr. Ballin podcast. If you enjoyed today's stories and you're looking for more bone chilling content, be sure to check out all of our studio's podcasts. This podcast, the Mr. Ballin podcast and also Mr. Ballin's medical mysteries. Bedtime Stories, Wartime stories, Run fool and redacted. Just search for Ballin Studios wherever you get your podcasts to find all of these shows. To watch hundreds more stories just like the ones you heard today, head over to our YouTube channel which is just called Mr. Ballin. So that's going to do it. I really appreciate your support. Until next time.

Narrator (37:36)

See ya.

Mr. Ballin (37:54)

Hey prime members, you can binge eight new episodes of the Mr. Ballin podcast one month early and all episodes ad free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon music app today. And before you go, please tell us about yourself by completing a short survey@wondry.com survey if you're listening to this podcast, then chances are good you are a fan of the strange, dark and mysterious. And if that's the case, then I've got some good news. We just launched a brand new strange, dark and mysterious podcast called Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries. And as the name suggests, it's a show about medical mysteries, a genre that many fans have been asking us to dive into for years. And we finally decided to take the plunge. And the show is awesome. In this free weekly show, we explore bizarre, unheard of diseases, strange medical mishaps, unexplainable deaths, and everything in between.

Narrator (38:45)

Each story is totally true and totally terrifying.

Mr. Ballin (38:48)

Go follow Mr. Ballin's medical mysteries wherever you get your podcasts, and if you're a prime member, you can listen early and ad free on Amazon Music.