Four Out of Seven Children in the Fugate Family Have Blue Skin
The Fascinating History Of The People With Blue Skin
The Fugate Family of Kentucky and their naturally blue skin
O ver the years, people have had to deal with unbelievable medical conditions. Sometimes, it's hard to believe some of these stories, but they actually happened. One of such stories is that of the blue people of Kentucky who lived in the area of Hazard, Kentucky for over 150 years.
The Fugate family, also known as the blue people of Kentucky, were popularly known for their blue-colored skin, a symptom of Methemoglobinemia. Their descendants also inherited this trait and were subsequently referred to as the "Blue Fugates" or "Blue people of Kentucky".
The History of the Fugate family
In 1820, Martin Fugate, a French orphan, settled in the town of Hazard, Kentucky. There, he met Elizabeth Smith whom he married and proceeded to start a family. The family folklore says that unlike other men in the region, Martin had an indigo blue skin.
Unknown to the couple and by some sort of strange coincidence, they both had a recessive methemoglobinemia gene. It was a rare genetic condition that turned one's skin blue. It was quite unusual that they both had this rare genetic trait. However, Elizabeth's skin was white, unlike that of her husband.
Out of the seven children that the Fugates had, four of them had the same blue skin as their father. The Fugate children lived an isolated life for so long because people from nearby communities were afraid of mingling with them. People avoided marrying into the Fugate family because they feared that they might have blue-skinned children if that happened.
As a result of the isolation and discrimination, some of the Fugate descendants married and had children within their own bloodline. The Fugates married other Fugate cousins. This gave room for the continued production of the "blue skin" gene.
However, there were other Fugate children that moved to different parts of the country and got married to outsiders. This also increased the chances of them passing the gene and having more children with blue skin.
Although the blue skin caused no physical harm, it was a constant source of psychological trauma for members of the family. The Fugates and their descendants survived well into their eighties and nineties, but were constantly embarrassed and experienced discrimination because of their skin color. Eventually, the Fugate family had no choice but to accept their skin color as nothing unusual.
The scientific explanation that was given
Scientists were quite intrigued and sought to know the cause of the blue skin in the Fugate family. In the late 1950s, Madison Cawein, a young hematologist traveled to see the family. He had hoped that he could cure them and restore their skin to normal. Since the family was quite secretive and retreated from public life, no one knew where they lived. Cawein had to drive around and ask some medical professionals before he eventually met the Fugate family.
Cawein was able to locate some descendants of the Fugate family. Two of them: Patrick and Rachel Ritchie, showed interest in participating in Cawein's interview. They were quite embarrassed by some of the personal questions that they were asked. Both of them indicated that they did not wish to be blue, but had no choice since they were born that way.
The doctor ran some blood tests on them and discovered that although they had no abnormal hemoglobin, they didn't have an enzyme that would have made their blood oxygenate properly.
Cawein created a substance called "Methylene Blue", which he injected into Patrick and Rachel with their consent. For the first time in their lives, the siblings witnessed a change in the color of their skin. Their bodies changed from blue to a normal shade of pink. Cawein had said: "For the first time in their lives, they were pink. They were delighted".
However, the effect of the medication was temporary. While Methylene Blue worked instantaneously, it left their bodies after some time. The doctor gave them tablets to use daily and anytime they wanted to go out in public but didn't want their blue skin to show.
The Last Fugate family member with blue skin
Benjamin Stacy is the last known family member that was born with the methemoglobinemia gene. When he was born in 1975, the Doctors were shocked to see a baby with very blue skin to the extent that it was almost purple. They ran some tests on him and were about to give him a blood transfusion when his grandmother revealed that she was from the Fugate line.
Although Benjamin was almost purple in color when he was born, the symptoms of the genetic abnormality reduced as he grew older. His skin became a rosy shade of pink after a month, but occasionally, he would turn blue when he was angry or cold.
People still talk about the Fugate family, but not everyone knows that Methomoglobinemia was the reason for their blue-colored skin. Doctors don't also see much of this rare disorder anymore because the Fugate family gene pool has become more diverse.
References
lovelaceprideaped.blogspot.com
Source: https://historyofyesterday.com/the-fascinating-history-of-the-people-with-blue-skin-f82148db2c51
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