In this top 10 scary roundup, we examine how disease‑causing organisms follow Darwin’s rule of evolution, constantly tweaking themselves to outwit our drugs, vaccines, treatments, and immune systems.

Why These Threats Make the Top 10 Scary List

Each pathogen on this list has found a clever shortcut to survive, whether by swapping genetic material, jumping to new hosts, or shrugging off the medicines we rely on. Their relentless adaptation turns once‑manageable illnesses into looming public‑health nightmares.

10 HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus comes in two major flavors—HIV‑1 and HIV‑2. The dominant HIV‑1 splits into four groups (M, N, O, P), with Group M further branching into subtypes A, B, C, D, F, G, H, J, and K. These subtypes differ genetically and love to mingle, creating hybrid strains known as circulating recombinant forms (CRFs). To date, scientists have catalogued 89 distinct CRFs.

This genetic mingling means that even people already living with HIV can be reinfected by a different type, group, or subtype. When a second strain joins the party, the two viruses can fuse, spawning a new variant that may carry drug‑resistance traits—a phenomenon called dual infection, also referred to as coinfection or superinfection depending on transmission details.

The danger doesn’t stop there. These hybrid CRFs can continue to recombine with other HIV strains, spawning ever‑more aggressive lineages. One notorious CRF, dubbed CRF19, has spread widely in Cuba after merging subtypes A, D, and G. Unlike typical HIV infections that take a decade or more to progress to AIDS, CRF19 can drive the disease in just three years.

9 Guinea Worm

Since former President Jimmy Carter launched a global eradication drive in 1986, guinea‑worm disease has plummeted from over 3.5 million cases to a mere 11 reported in 2016. The parasite forces a monstrous worm—often exceeding one meter in length—to crawl out of a person’s skin over a month‑long, agonizing ordeal.

Should Carter’s campaign succeed, guinea‑worm would become only the second disease ever eliminated by humanity (after smallpox) and the first eradicated without a vaccine. Yet the parasite isn’t surrendering quietly.

It has begun exploiting a new host: dogs. In Chad, the last stronghold of the disease, canine infections have been documented since 2012. Roughly 600 dogs were known to carry the worm in 2016, though the true number is likely higher. Free‑roaming dogs are hard to monitor, and their love of water—essential for the worm’s life cycle—makes control even tougher.

When a human feels the burning pain of an adult worm, they instinctively seek water to soothe it. The worm releases larvae into that source, where tiny aquatic organisms ingest them. Humans then drink the contaminated water, swallowing the larvae, which mature into adult worms inside the body, continuing the gruesome loop. How dogs acquire the parasite remains murky, but contaminated fish are a leading hypothesis.

8 Bubonic Plague

The Black Death of the 14th century wiped out roughly 25 million Europeans—about one‑third of the continent’s population—thanks to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Transmitted via infected rodent fleas, this microbe can cause bubonic, pneumonic, or septicemic plague.

Despite its medieval reputation, Y. pestis remains a modern menace, persisting in 25 countries today, including Madagascar, which experienced a modest outbreak from August to November 2017.

The frightening twist is that the plague is growing resistant to antibiotics. By 2017, at least ten commonly used antibiotics had lost efficacy against it. Researchers suspect gene‑swapping with other bacteria—such as E. coli, Klebsiella, and Salmonella, all common in food—drives this resistance.

7 Polio

Poliomyelitis once ranked among the deadliest killers of young children, and survivors often suffered lifelong paralysis. Mass immunization using oral doses of a weakened poliovirus dramatically slashed its impact.

Now a twist in the tale: the attenuated vaccine strain, which normally exits the body via stool, can regain potency, mutate, and re‑infect children. This vaccine‑derived poliovirus proves deadlier than its wild counterpart, and, unsettlingly, the standard vaccine offers no protection against it.

In a recent outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 47 percent of the 445 infected children died despite having been fully vaccinated, underscoring the threat posed by this mutated, vaccine‑resistant form.

6 Ebola

Ebola burst into global consciousness during the 2014–2016 West African epidemic, which ran from 23 March 2014 to 13 January 2016. This outbreak claimed at least 11,315 lives—five times more than all previous Ebola episodes combined since the virus’s discovery in 1976. The true toll is likely higher.

The epidemic began in December 2013 when a two‑year‑old in Guinea died. By March 2014, the virus had spread to Liberia and then Sierra Leone, eventually infecting over 28,000 people—roughly 100‑fold the number infected in earlier outbreaks.

Virologists identified a mutant strain, designated A82V, responsible for over 90 percent of these cases. This mutation made the virus more lethal during the outbreak, though researchers believe it may have burned out because it struggled to jump to non‑human hosts like fruit bats.

5 Gonorrhea

Data from 77 nations reveal that gonorrhea is racing toward 100 percent drug resistance. The frontline antibiotic, azithromycin, now fails in 81 percent of cases, while extended‑spectrum cephalosporins—oral cefixime or injectable ceftriaxone—miss the mark in 66 percent of infections.

The United Kingdom is grappling with a “super gonorrhea” strain that is fully resistant to azithromycin and threatens to outpace ceftriaxone as well. BBC investigations suggest this resistance surge stems from patients taking azithromycin alone, contrary to UK guidelines that recommend a combination therapy.

4 Cholera

Cholera, caused by ingesting water or food tainted with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, often presents as mild diarrhea, but severe cases trigger rapid dehydration, vomiting, and can be fatal within hours.

Following Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake, a cholera outbreak erupted ten months later, claiming an estimated 9,200 lives—though some NGOs argue the true death toll is far higher, as many fatalities went unrecorded, with only about 10 percent reported in certain regions.

The Haitian epidemic was driven by a mutated strain dubbed “altered El Tor.” This variant, likened to the deadly 19th‑century cholera, carries three mutations that let it bypass the body’s early warning mechanisms. First observed in 2000 and traced back to Nepal, altered El Tor is markedly more lethal than standard cholera strains.

3 Syphilis

Often called the “great imitator,” syphilis mimics many other illnesses and spreads through sexual contact or from mother to child during pregnancy.

Researchers have pinpointed two dominant strains—Nichols and Street Strain 14 (SS14)—that are undergoing mutations, granting them resistance to common antibiotics such as penicillin and macrolides. SS14 shows a higher mutation rate, with roughly 90 percent of its samples resistant, versus 25 percent for the Nichols strain.

This growing resistance fuels a resurgence of syphilis. Since 2013, global case numbers have risen by 15 percent. While most infections remain treatable with antibiotics, the looming threat of full resistance looms if trends continue.

2 Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is now confronting a serious mutation challenge, with two formidable forms identified: multidrug‑resistant TB (MDR‑TB) and extensively drug‑resistant TB (XDR‑TB).

MDR‑TB resists the two most potent anti‑TB drugs, isoniazid and rifampicin. XDR‑TB goes a step further, shrugging off those two drugs plus several others used in treatment.

In 2015, 580,000 MDR‑TB cases were reported worldwide, of which 55,100 (9.5 percent) were XDR‑TB. Over 117 countries now report XDR‑TB, indicating a slow but steady spread.

Experts suspect that inconsistent drug storage and patients skipping doses—critical in TB’s six‑month regimen—fuel this resistance, as interruptions give the bacteria a chance to adapt.

1 Cancer

Since the 1970s, scientists have observed that cancers can evolve, developing resistance to chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and even targeted drugs. This evolution allows tumor cells to pump out medicines, repair drug‑induced damage, and survive treatments that once killed them.

Prostate cancer exemplifies this problem. Treatments that starve the tumor of testosterone once worked well, but cancer cells have learned to use alternative growth signals, giving rise to castration‑resistant prostate cancer—a form that often proves fatal.

Lung and colorectal cancers also mutate, becoming immune to radiation and standard chemotherapy, leaving clinicians with few options.

One promising avenue is “individual‑specific therapy,” tailoring treatment to a patient’s unique tumor profile. However, even this approach isn’t foolproof. For instance, Herceptin—a drug that latches onto the HER2 protein in breast cancer cells—initially showed great promise, but cancer cells mutated, shedding the HER2 target and producing HER3 proteins, rendering Herceptin ineffective.

When you think of dangerous events, you imagine injury, loss, or even death. Yet, among the most perilous incidents there lies a strange silver lining: 10 potentially deadly accidents have astonishingly acted as catalysts for curing serious medical ailments. Below we explore each extraordinary case, from lightning bolts to earthquakes, that turned catastrophe into recovery.

Why These 10 Potentially Deadly Accidents Matter

10 Blind Man Gets Sight Restored After He Is Struck By Lightning

In 1971 Edwin Robinson endured a horrific truck crash that robbed him of sight and left him partially deaf. Nearly a decade later, on June 9, 1980, while attempting to rescue his pet chicken from a downpour outside his Falmouth, Maine home, a bolt of lightning struck him, sending him crashing to the ground and leaving him momentarily stunned.

That very night, both his vision and hearing returned as if by magic. The story quickly captured media attention; Robinson and his wife Doris fielded an avalanche of phone calls, to the point where they had to detach the handset from the landline just to catch a few winks. Television producers also knocked on their door, eager to feature the miracle.

Despite the whirlwind of publicity, the Robinsons walked away with only a modest hundred‑dollar check and reimbursement for travel to various studios. They consciously declined a lucrative television deal that would have granted the network full rights to their tale.

Their refusal stemmed from a belief that the station would sensationalize the event rather than spotlight the couple’s life after the restoration. Doris added that she would have preferred a film focusing on their post‑accident journey, not merely the lightning strike itself.

9 Man Gets Sight Restored After He Is Headbutted By Horse

Don Karkos answered the call to arms after the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941, joining the U.S. Navy and later serving aboard the tanker USS Rapaden.

The vessel’s mission was to refuel Allied ships across the North Atlantic, a sea teeming with German U‑boats. In 1942, an explosion aboard the Rapaden propelled a metal fragment into Karkos’s forehead, striking just above his right eye.

He lost consciousness, awoke in an Icelandic hospital, and was told he had gone blind in his right eye. Doctors even suggested removal, but he refused. After returning stateside, he worked in a mill and eventually opened a horse farm in 1978, though the loss of his eye made everyday navigation a challenge, especially as cataracts began clouding his left eye.

Six‑four years later, while prepping his horse My Buddy Chimo for a race, the animal slammed its head into his already blinded right eye, knocking him against a wall. That night he felt ill, yet by morning discovered he could see again with that very eye—the same one the horse had struck.

8 Woman Cured Of Multiple Sclerosis After Lightning Strike

On August 17, 1994, Mary Clamser, a longtime multiple‑sclerosis sufferer, experienced a life‑changing event when a bolt of lightning struck her Oklahoma home while she was taking a shower.

MS had gradually robbed her of leg control over 22 years, eventually confining her to a wheelchair. During the shower, one hand gripped the metal shower bar while the other clutched the toilet flush handle, and metal braces on her legs completed an electrical pathway.

The lightning surged through the household wiring, coursing through her body and rendering her unconscious. When she awoke in hospital, a physician was still checking for fractures, yet she could feel the doctor’s hands on her previously paralyzed limbs.

Within three weeks she was walking unaided, shedding her braces, and two months later she confidently slipped into high heels—proof that the strike had undone the MS damage.

7 Man Regains Hearing After Earthquake

On August 23, 2011, a 5.8‑magnitude quake rattled Louisa County, Virginia, sending tremors across the East Coast and prompting evacuations of the Pentagon, Capitol and several hospitals.

For Robert Valderzak, a Washington, D.C. veteran who had gone deaf after a severe fall in June that fractured his skull, the shaking proved fortuitous. He had been living with conductive hearing loss, relying on lip‑reading and a special microphone.

While a patient at the Veterans Affairs Hospital, Valderzak’s three sons and daughter were visiting. When the quake subsided, he realized he could hear his son’s voice clearly for the first time since the injury.

Doctors theorized that the seismic vibrations, coupled with medication, helped drain fluid trapped in his middle ear—a common cause of conductive loss—allowing his hearing to return. Valderzak describes the event as nothing short of a miracle.

6 Lightning Cured A Man’s Cancer

In 1855, English farmer Reuben Stephenson was tilling a field near Langtoft when a bolt of lightning struck his plow, killing the two draft horses attached to it and leaving Stephenson gravely wounded.

Dr. Allison tended to Stephenson’s injuries and, during treatment, noticed a malignant tumor on the farmer’s lip. Planning an operation, he was stunned to discover the tumor had vanished by the time Stephenson recovered enough for surgery.

Allison concluded that the lightning strike had somehow eradicated the cancer, attributing Stephenson’s cure to the extraordinary electrical discharge.

5 Teenager Stops Using Prescription Glasses After Getting Struck By Lightning

In July 2017, sixteen‑year‑old Faith Mobley was washing dishes at a McDonald’s drive‑through in Haleyville, Alabama, when a lightning bolt struck the restaurant, traveling through the pipe system to where she stood.

The current coursed through her headset and exited through her left foot, leaving a sizable hole in her shoe and a burn on her foot. She lost consciousness but was revived by a coworker who called emergency services.

After regaining consciousness, Mobley discovered her eyesight had dramatically improved; the glasses she’d worn for years were no longer necessary, and even the color of her irises had shifted.

4 Man Cured Of Mental Illness After Shooting Himself In The Head

In February 1988, the Associated Press reported a harrowing yet astonishing story of a man known only as George, who unintentionally cured his obsessive‑compulsive disorder during a failed suicide attempt five years earlier.

George’s OCD manifested as relentless hand‑washing and showering rituals driven by an overwhelming fear of germs, eventually costing him his job and education and plunging him into deep depression.

Armed with a .22‑caliber rifle, he aimed at his brain through his mouth, pulling the trigger. The bullet pierced his skull, lodging in the left frontal lobe, but did not kill him. Surgeons later extracted the projectile, which had damaged the brain region responsible for his compulsions.

Post‑operation, George’s IQ rebounded to its pre‑OCD level, he secured employment, returned to school, and achieved top grades. Physician’s Weekly labeled the episode a ‘successful radical surgery.’

3 Woman Recovers Sight After Falling And Hitting Her Head

In 1993, Mary Ann Franco survived a severe automobile crash that left her with spinal injuries and induced blindness.

On August 2015, while walking across her Florida living room, she tripped, striking her head on what she thought was a fireplace and fracturing her neck in the process.

Following neck surgery, she awoke from anesthesia to find her sight fully restored, marking a dramatic reversal of her previous blindness.

2 Woman Cured Of Her Super Senses After Getting Struck By Lightning

In January 2017, researchers at Trinity College Dublin published a case study describing a woman, identified only as AB, whose synesthesia—a condition causing cross‑sensory perceptions—was temporarily eliminated after a lightning strike.

Synesthesia can make individuals taste words, hear colors, or feel ambient emotions, often leading to distress and medication use. AB experienced these mixed senses before the incident.

The electrical discharge appeared to erase the condition, though it later resurfaced, indicating a fleeting cure.

1 Blind Man Cured After Falling Down Stairs

In 2013, sixty‑eight‑year‑old Pierre‑Paul Thomas, born with congenital nystagmus that rendered him functionally blind, suffered a fall down the stairs in his Montreal home.

The tumble shattered several facial bones, including those surrounding his eyes, prompting immediate surgical repair.

During the operation, a plastic surgeon suggested correcting his eyes as part of the procedure, and Thomas consented.

Surgeons removed the cataract that had been responsible for his blindness, effectively restoring his vision, although his underlying nystagmus remained untreatable.

Doctors hypothesize that Thomas’s sight was present but obscured by the cataract; the accident merely led to the surgery that uncovered it.

Medical dramas dominate US television screens, from Chicago Med to The Good Doctor, feeding our curiosity about the fragile, intricate machinery that is the human body. Through these shows we catch glimpses of the uncanny, the rare, and the outright bewildering that can happen when biology goes off‑script. Below we dive into 10 cases bizarre medical ailments that leave doctors scratching their heads.

10 Drunk On Carbs

Every sunrise, Nick Hess would awaken with nausea, stomach cramps, and a pounding headache, only to discover he was also inexplicably intoxicated. The 35‑year‑old described the sensation as a sudden “bam! I’m drunk” feeling that could creep up over days or strike in an instant. His wife, Karen Daws, initially suspected a hidden alcohol habit and scoured their home for bottles, finding none.

After a battery of tests left physicians baffled, Karen’s own digging led them to Dr. Anup Kanodia. Stool and blood analyses revealed Nick’s gut harbored roughly 400 % more yeast than normal. The culprit: a strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermenting the carbohydrates in his meals, producing alcohol that seeped straight into his bloodstream.

Auto‑brewery syndrome is a recognized condition, though the extent to which gut‑produced alcohol can cause legal‑level intoxication sparks debate. The syndrome has even been cited in drunk‑driving defenses; in 2015 a New York woman’s charges were dropped after testing showed a blood‑alcohol content of 0.36 % without any external consumption. Nick now manages his condition with antifungal medication and a strict low‑carb, low‑yeast diet.

9 Hyperekplexia

Also called “exaggerated surprise,” hyperekplexia is a hereditary disorder that cranks up muscle tone, producing an extreme startle reflex. A simple surprise can trigger a dramatic, jerky movement followed by a brief, rigid freeze where the patient cannot move.

It affects roughly one in 40,000 Americans. Researchers link the condition to mutations in brain‑stem receptors that normally dampen the startle response. Newborns are especially at risk; the reflex can interrupt breathing, as seen with Jacob Madgin, a British infant who required tube feeding because even a gentle touch of a teat could set off a breath‑stopping spasm.

Every everyday sound—a dog’s bark, a splash of water—can provoke an episode. Jacob’s mother recalls a routine moment of opening a box of blueberries, where the plastic’s crinkle set off his reflex, underscoring how ordinary stimuli become life‑threatening for those with hyperekplexia.

8 Phantom Rectum Syndrome

When surgeons create a stoma to bypass a diseased intestinal segment, waste is expelled through an opening and collected in a bag, leaving the rectum without its usual passage of feces. Some patients retain their rectum, which continues to produce lubricating mucus. Without an outlet, this mucus can solidify into a painful, dry mass that must be expelled.

Even more perplexing is phantom rectum syndrome, where individuals who have had their rectum removed still feel the urge to defecate. They may experience phantom flatus (the sensation of passing gas) and phantom feces, accompanied by burning, pins‑and‑needles, or stinging pain in the region.

BBC presenter Sam Cleasby, who underwent part‑colon removal for ulcerative colitis in 2013, has become an outspoken advocate for stoma awareness. She likens the phantom sensation to the feeling amputees have when a missing limb still “talks” to the brain, illustrating how the nervous system can cling to an organ that’s no longer functional.

7 Sweating Blood

In 2017, a 21‑year‑old Italian woman presented with a terrifying symptom: spontaneous, blood‑stained sweating on her palms and face lasting up to five minutes. The episodes appeared without warning, driving her into isolation, depression, and panic attacks.

Initially, clinicians suspected factitious disorder—a condition where patients feign illness for attention. However, direct observation of a crimson‑tinged fluid oozing from her forehead and lower face proved the bleeding was genuine.

Doctors diagnosed her with hematohidrosis, a rare disorder where extreme stress causes tiny capillaries feeding the sweat glands to rupture, letting blood mix with sweat and surface on the skin. Historical accounts even suggest the phenomenon may have occurred to Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, where the Gospel of Luke mentions “great drops of blood” falling to the ground.

6 Hirschsprung’s Disease

In 2017, Chinese surgeons faced a staggering case: a 22‑year‑old man, Zhou Hai, arrived with an abdomen swollen to the size of a pregnant woman. Inside his colon lay a colossal 13 kg (29 lb) mass of feces, the result of an undiagnosed congenital condition.

The culprit was Hirschsprung’s disease, a rare disorder where sections of the large intestine lack the nerve cells needed to coordinate muscular contractions. Without these nerves, stool cannot be propelled forward, leading to massive blockages and severe abdominal pain, as Zhou experienced.

Surgeons at Shanghai’s Tenth People’s Hospital excised the affected bowel segment and reattached the healthy portion to his anus in a three‑hour operation, finally restoring the passage of waste and relieving his life‑threatening condition.

5 Gluten Psychosis

While most associate celiac disease with digestive upset, a 37‑year‑old student in 2016 shocked doctors with a severe psychiatric breakdown. She became convinced friends and family were part of a malicious “game,” accused her parents of burglary, and threatened them, leading to her admission to a psychiatric facility.

Medical tests revealed profound iron deficiency, multiple vitamin shortfalls, and extreme weight loss despite a ravenous appetite. Initially diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, her condition persisted despite antipsychotics and supplements.

Further investigation uncovered celiac disease as the underlying cause. In about 20 % of celiac patients, the immune response spills over into the central nervous system, causing hallucinations, memory loss, and seizures. The patient initially rejected a wheat‑free diet, worsening her mental state, but once she adhered to strict gluten avoidance, her psychosis resolved—only to relapse when she inadvertently consumed wheat again, culminating in a criminal act against her parents.

4 Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder

A&E nurse Kim Ramsey’s life took a bewildering turn after a 2001 fall down a flight of stairs. Since that accident, she has endured up to 100 orgasms a day, a relentless, unwanted state of genital arousal that can last for hours or even days. This condition, known as persistent genital arousal disorder (PGAD), remains poorly understood, though researchers suspect a blend of neurological, vascular, and psychological factors.

Women with PGAD often feel perpetually on the brink of climax, with symptoms erupting in public venues. Pelvic pain and discomfort frequently accompany the relentless arousal. Kim manages triggers by staying busy with work and avoiding known provocations.

Heather Dearmon of South Carolina experienced similar symptoms during pregnancy, hoping they would fade after childbirth. Instead, they intensified, leading her to self‑induce three consecutive orgasms to find relief. The condition’s stigma drives many sufferers into depression and suicidal thoughts; in 2012, Gretchen Molannen took her own life after a 16‑year battle with PGAD, describing a night of 50 nonstop orgasms as “I thought I was gonna die.” Treatment options include medication, cognitive‑behavioral therapy, and pelvic‑floor therapy, though no definitive cure exists.

3 The Blue People Of Kentucky

During the 1960s, hematologist Madison Cawein and nurse Ruth Pendergrass set out to locate the legendary “Blue People of Kentucky.” Their quest began when Pendergrass encountered a patient whose face and fingernails were a deep indigo, prompting the exclamation, “She looked like she was having a heart attack!”

After exhaustive searching yielded no results, two blue‑skinned siblings, Patrick and Rachel Ritchie, finally walked into Cawein’s clinic. Blood tests revealed a deficiency of the enzyme needed to convert methemoglobin (which gives a bluish hue) to normal hemoglobin, a condition known as hereditary methemoglobinemia.

Treatment with methylene blue swiftly restored the patients’ skin to a healthy pink. The genetic anomaly traced back to Martin Fugate, a French settler who arrived in Troublesome Creek in 1820 and married a woman carrying the same recessive gene. Their children, and subsequent intermarriage within the family, spread the blue‑skin trait throughout the region.

2 Parry‑Romberg Syndrome

Parry‑Romberg syndrome is an exceedingly rare disorder that gradually erodes the skin, muscle, and connective tissue on one side of the face, giving a hemifacial atrophy that can lead to drooping features. The disease typically emerges in childhood or adolescence and progresses over many years, affecting roughly one in 250,000 individuals.

In 2011, three‑year‑old British girl Maha Asghar was diagnosed after the right side of her face began to waste away. The atrophy threatened vision and hearing, and she endured debilitating, hour‑long pain episodes. With no NHS treatment available, her family turned to crowdfunding for surgery abroad, seeking the expertise of the few U.S. vascular surgeons capable of the intricate facial reconstruction required.

One pioneering surgeon, Dr. John Siebert, successfully rescued a North Carolina girl’s face by transplanting tissue from her own forearm and sculpting it into the affected area. While the exact cause of Parry‑Romberg remains elusive—autoimmunity, nerve damage, infection, or trauma are all suspected—the condition continues to challenge clinicians worldwide.

1 Forever Young

Mario Bosco, a Brooklyn‑born actor now in his forties, consistently surprises onlookers who mistake his 4‑foot‑10‑inch frame for that of a teenager. His perpetual youthful appearance stems from panhypopituitarism, a condition where the pituitary gland fails to secrete adequate hormones.

The deficiency disrupts growth hormone production, stunting physical development, while reduced gonadotropins impede normal sexual maturation. Bosco’s early life was riddled with medical crises—convulsions, hypoglycemia, and thyroid dysfunction—leaving his body chronically under‑developed.

Despite these obstacles, Bosco forged a successful acting career, appearing on shows like NYPD Blue and Jimmy Kimmel Live. He credits his unique look for opening doors that might otherwise have remained closed, stating, “I feel like none of this would have happened if I hadn’t have looked and sounded different.”