Some medical conditions have names that sound so whimsical or soft that it’s difficult to wrap your mind around the seriousness of the disease. Like Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, a neurological condition that affects depth perception. Or Cat-Scratch Fever, an infection from bacteria caused by a bite or scratch from a cat (also a Ted Nugent song). And then there’s Prune Belly.
Prune Belly doesn’t sound all that dangerous. But that’s why the name is so misleading. It’s actually life-threatening, and it almost snatched the future of 5-year-old Brennan Nightengale – a boy whose name is nearly as whimsical-sounding as his disease. Only this isn’t a fairy tale, it’s every parent’s nightmare.