Human beings are a bit of a puzzle. There’s a paradoxical desire for connection with others while also staying unique. On the one hand, each and every single one of us has unrepeatable life experiences and relationships. On the other hand, there’s nothing new under the sun. There are tons of commonalities to be found between us and the people living all over Earth, from our similar wants and needs to psychology and biology.
However, some people have such bizarre genetics and medical histories that they feel like anomalies. Today, we’re featuring some internet users’ stories about some of the things that make them statistically rare, including niche allergies, biological quirks, and surviving against the odds. Scroll down to have a read.
#1
I’m an 18 month survivor of Stage 3 pancreatic cancer and currently in complete remission.
Image credits: Bamajoe34
#2
I'm not part of the 77% of felons that went back to prison within 3 years of getting out. 7.5 years and going strong.
Image credits: thatvixenivy
#3
I lost 110 lbs, it's been 20 years now and I've not gained any back.
Image credits: saverity40
Pollen, dust, animal, and certain food allergies (e.g., to nuts, shellfish, and dairy) are fairly common. But their severity has a huge range. You probably know someone who has hay fever (hey!) or can’t be around cats or dogs for a long while without sneezing (hi again!). Or you may have a person in your life who has to carry around an EpiPen in case they get stung by a bee or accidentally ingest food that has traces of nuts.
Other allergies are incredibly rare. So rare, in fact, that you may not even have heard of them before. According to Penn Medicine Becker ENT & Allergy, some of the most uncommon allergies known to medical science include water allergy, also known as aquagenic urticaria. In short, people who suffer from it develop itchy and painful hives when their skin comes into contact with water. So, they have to limit their exposure as much as possible.
#4
According to my grandma I’m the smartest young man alive.
Image credits: anon
#5
I am born on the same date as my dad and great grandpa.
Image credits: D0z3rD04
#6
I was one of the few Romanian orphans to receive a good life.
Image credits: djentrify
Another very rare allergy is sun allergy, aka polymorphous light eruption (PMLE). Similar to aquagenic urticaria, PMLE means that people’s skin develops hives, but this time when exposed to sunlight, not water. People with PMLE have to avoid exposing large areas of their bodies to the sun and manage their symptoms with the help of sunscreen and antihistamines.
Some other rare allergies include cold urticaria (allergy to cold temperatures, whether that’s air, water, food, or beverages) and exercise-induced anaphylaxis (allergy to exercise which means you may need to have emergency adrenaline shots if you’re too physically active). And in some cases, you can find individuals who have cholinergic urticaria (sweat allergy) and nickel allergy (essentially, an allergy to coins).
#7
I'm an Asian and also a natural ginger.
Image credits: averageredditcuck
#8
I have sickle cell anemia.
My skin is white.
Ive had doctors ask me ‘are you sure you have sickle cell? Want to be retested?’ This has happened 6 times that I remember. Ive never seen my mom angrier lol.
Image credits: anon
#9
I found out I had synesthesia the first time I got into an argument about how Wednesday is green.
Image credits: manlikerealities
What makes you a statistical rarity or total anomaly, dear Pandas? Do you have any bizarre allergies? Were you born with any genetic quirks? Have you ever been in a million-to-one situation?
How have all of these niche experiences affected your life? Would you rather be one-of-a-kind or have more things in common with everyone else? Let us know in the comments!
#10
Survived premature birth without any defects
Edit: For all those wondering I was born 4 months early at 1 pound 6 ounces.
Image credits: Semour9
#11
I can fold a fitted sheet.
Image credits: asmuchasievercould
#12
I'm allergic to the chemical released when fresh oranges are peeled. That first spray when you open an orange will put me into anaphylactic shock. Super specific, super rare when the allergy is that severe. Bad oranges.
Image credits: itsaboatnotaboot
#13
I’m chimeric, except, I have two twins. I’m walking around with my fraternal twin brothers DNA and identical twin sisters spinal tube next to my spinal tube. I was supposed to be three individuals.
Image credits: hhh1978
#14
My mother was born with an upside-down uterus. They told her it would be impossible to have a child. I was born with my umbilical chord wrapped three times around my neck, and was presumed dead. Yet here I am with no birth defects- perfectly healthy. I was paraded around the hospital as a miracle child. Having been born in a small town, everyone always told me I was going to grow up to do miraculous things.
I feel as though I uh... have not lived up to the hype.
Edit: wow this really blew up. Thanks for the kind words everyone. Don’t worry I’m a happy guy.
Bonus fact: I actually had a twin brother, but there wasn’t enough food for the both of us. My chances were 50/50 from the get-go. I live my life not only to live up to the expectations set for me, but also for my brother who never got to live his own.
Image credits: VespineWings
#15
I was cured of Stage 3b lung cancer.
Image credits: Catzenpudl
#16
Being reasonably well-adjusted despite spending years as a foster kid where some of the homes were abusive.
Image credits: anon
#17
I actually had an allergic reaction to a vaccine as a kid. I passed out and stopped breathing. I almost died. I had a speech impediment as a kid that was probably a result of lack of oxygen to my brain during the incident. True allergic reactions like this are one in a million.
I couldn’t finish my vaccines and can’t get boosters shots because the chance of another reaction is higher than the chance of me actually contracting anything we vaccinate against. Or it was, until we starting losing our herd immunity. If I had kids I’d still vaccinate them.
Image credits: kittenmittens4865
#18
I am a leap day baby! Coming up on 6 years old. :).
Image credits: kelsymew
#19
Instead of sweating I just get really really cold when working out. So far no health problems just a cool way to freak out my friends.
Image credits: UnusualBloo
#20
I’m naturally a redheaded, blue eyed, left handed human and the only one in my family with those characteristics.
Image credits: panicatthemychemical
#21
I'm a colorblind woman. Apparently, it's 8x rarer in women than in men.
Image credits: MissAJHunter
#22
For exactly 2 years, I served as the trashman for the International Space Station.
#23
Left handed, dyspraxic and coeliac!
I’m like the unicorn nobody asked for.
Image credits: haemwrecker
#24
Benign brain tumor that may have been sitting there my whole life.
my doctors say lots of people could be walking around and not even know it so who knows how rare it is.
Image credits: intersecting_lines
#25
I suffered a stillbirth last year... which is sadly not that rare.
But the autopsy discovered the cause was a disseminated herpes infection which I contracted from my partner.
Intrauterine herpes infection is very rare. For it to cause death is very rare. Neither of my two OBs, the perinatologist, nor the pathologist has ever seen a case of it. Not only that, I had no symptoms at all - never experienced an outbreak, had normal CBC, etc. The pathologist could only find cases where the mother also had a disseminated infection which passed to the baby.
My doctor said it’s the medical equivalent of being struck by lightning.
The good news is that this did not put future pregnancies at risk, since this typically only happens during a primary infection. I am now 36 weeks with another baby boy and other than being on preventative acyclovir, they are not concerned for him.
Image credits: snackysnackeeesnacki
#26
I was present the two times the US was attacked on American soil. I lived in Pearl City, Hawaii just outside of Pearl Harbor when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on 12/7//1941,. I worked in the Pentagon when a missile strruck it on 9/11/2001.
Edit: To all those correcting me, yes it was a plane and not a missile. In my very old age I get confused sometimes. When I evacuated the Pentagon as ordered, I could see the part of the plane that was sticking out of the side of the Pentagon. Took me a hell of a long time to get home because of the incredible traffic jam that occurred in the aftermath.
Image credits: HiBrucke6
#27
I have a 34th vertebrae in my spine normally there is only 33.
Image credits: Bordello_Orphanage
#28
My height. I'm around 6ft, which isn't that amazing, except that I have just turned 13.
#29
Hmmm... There are a few things... I have centralized heterochromia, which is a mutation of a mutation... Of a mutation. On top of that, it's hereditary and not linked to any horrific condition that's normally linked to hereditary centralized heterochromia.
However, if you want incredibly rare...
My wife is alcohol intolerant. I didn't learn about it until she recounted a tale about her grandmother trying to calm her down as a baby by putting whiskey on her gums. Yeah, she calmed down alright... Then her face turned blue and she wasn't breathing. This anomaly is rather rare. But what makes this crazy? My dad is allergic to alcohol, which is very similar but just as rare! Not just grain alcohol, he's allergic to isopropyl as well. He can't even have it on his skin for too long, otherwise it will start burning. There was even a malpractice suite because a doctor didn't believe him when he said he was allergic. Her words were, "It's not possible to be allergic to alcohol." I won't go into details, but the doctor almost fainted and my dad has an insane scar because of it.
Image credits: shuboni
#30
One of my eyes is sectorally heterochromatic. That's rare enough on its own, but I figure that the color combination and position on the iris makes it absolutely unique on Earth.
EDIT: Wow, this blew up! For those asking, [I'm Hazel with a chunk of brown.](https://i.imgur.com/5TgPutS.jpg).
Image credits: 8andahalfby11
#31
O negative blood. Universal donor.
Image credits: dingleberri609
#32
I have visual snow (you see tiny flickering dots everywhere).
Image credits: the_mighty-chaddicus
#33
I've had chicken pox twice.
Image credits: henrythethirteenth
#34
I had 5 wisdom teeth.
Image credits: thinkmyfavoritesong
#35
I was born even though my mom had her tubes clamped and was in her 40s.
#36
I'm Asian and I'm absolute garbage at math.
#37
I'm ambidextrous but some things do prefer one hand to the other. As an example: I am a right handed swordsman and a left handed archer. I'd be useless in battle.
#38
My sister is color blind. My two brothers and I (I’m also a boy) are not.
#39
Green eyes only 7% pop. Lefties 10%. Combined features, idk.
#40
I’ve got Morning Glory Syndrome/Anomaly, a birth defect, in one of my eyes. Basically, optic nerve isn’t fully formed, so not only can’t I see out of it, my eye can’t absorb the flash when taking a picture and instead reflects the light. In pictures, my eye looks like a Morning Glory flower, hence the name.
#41
I can move my ears, eyebrows and I sweat doing nothing.
Image credits: CuteMorgana
#42
I have a double crown. Makes it difficult to cut my hair well so it's good practice for my friend training to be a hairdresser.
#43
I have a tongue-tie. About 5% of newborns have one and often they naturally go away over time, or have to be snipped to help with breastfeeding or speech, which makes them pretty uncommon in adults. But I still have mine, and so does my sister. My dentist (who's fairly young, in fairness) said he'd never seen one before he saw mine.
#44
I can rumble my ears.
#45
I’m left handed but play every sport right handed.
Edit: I thought I was rare but it seems there are quite a few of us confused people out there. I’m happy to hear it.
#46
I have 3 separate learning disabilities and I have a masters degree. Most people with the leaning problems I have only obtain a HS diploma.
#47
I had an extra bone in my foot called an accessory navicular. I had to get it removed because of the pain is was causing me while walking. Apparently like 5% of the world has it or gets it taken out.
#48
I have red hair and blue eyes, which is the rarest combination of hair and eyes.
#49
I have three nipples.
#50
My middle name is Matrix.
#51
My body temperature is slightly above average.
Image credits: Klearg
#52
I have no arch on my foot.
#53
I’m allergic to water! yay fun times.
#54
I'm 6'7".
#55
I’m a featherless biped.
#56
I’ve never met anyone else who has 540 degrees of rotation in their wrists.
#57
I was born from my mum on the 17th November, idk anyone else who she gave birth to at that time.
#58
I was born.
1 in however many million or billion whatever it is.
