Wesley Warren Jr.

Wesley Warren Jr. (June 23, 1963 – March 14, 2014) was an American man who attracted worldwide attention for his problems with scrotal elephantiasis, which caused his scrotum to grow to a weight of 132.5 pounds (60.1 kg) and hang down a little below his knees.

Warren's struggles with his condition and his subsequent operation were filmed by a British television crew for a documentary The Man with the 10-Stone Testicles, which aired on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on June 24, 2013.

[3] He underwent a two-week course of antibiotics, but this had little effect and a series of doctors, including a lymphedema specialist, were unable to find a solution.

Simply keeping his scrotum under cover was a challenge in itself, which he eventually solved by wearing an upside-down full-size hooded sweatshirt over it with his legs in the sleeves.

[3] As travel was so difficult, he would spend most of his time in his apartment's living room watching television while propping his scrotum on top of the milk crate.

"[3] At a further evaluation at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in California, he was advised that there was a better chance of saving his penis and testicles, but that the procedure would cost a seven-figure sum, which he did not have.

In the hope of raising the money, he went public in a segment on Howard Stern's radio and TV show and set up an address to receive offers of help or financial support.

"[3] He acknowledged that the choice of address was not the classiest, but it was at least memorable, and noted that The Howard Stern Show was a good platform for him to make an appearance as its audience is predominantly male.

He was subsequently profiled by the Las Vegas Review-Journal's medical correspondent, Paul Harasim, in two pieces in the fall of 2011 that were viewed over a million times.

Prokopakis, Head of Male Genito-urethral Plastic Surgery Unit at the IASO Group of Hospitals in Athens Greece, following a recommendation from James Lane, a former patient with scrotal elephantiasis who had been treated there.

Dr. Joel Gelman of the University of California, Irvine's Center for Reconstructive Urology also offered to carry out the surgery and waive his normal fee if the use of the hospital's facilities was paid for by Nevada Medicaid.

[4] Warren's weight by this stage had increased to 552 pounds (250 kg) and his penis was buried 1 foot (30 cm) inside his testicle sac.

Warren's severe anemia complicated the task[4] and the surgeons discovered that some of the veins in the mass were as much as quarter of an inch (6 mm) wide.

The Daily Mirror's Kevin O'Sullivan commented that Channel 4's "deep sleaze divers" were responsible for scheduling the documentary and that the channel was "the home of shameless voyeurism",[9] while a psychologist interviewed by Metro said that it "appeals to our voyeuristic tendencies – there's something a bit titillating about peeking into the very private aspects of other people's lives and when those people happen to be afflicted by problems that we don't have ourselves, it gives us some emotional distance ...

"[10] However, Metro's TV critic Keith Watson commented that "beneath the freak show facade ... there was a rather inspiring story of human fortitude in the face of outlandish bad luck",[11] while Grace Dent of The Independent similarly felt that there were "subtler ideas present", calling it "an unflinching look at the reality of today's American healthcare system.

[13] The Guardian's Stuart Heritage felt that it "just fell on the right side of exploitation ... We got to see the man, and experience his pain and worries and embarrassment.

[16] Sue Oriel of Firecracker Films told the Metro that it had got "the entire [United Kingdom] talking" and said: "Every once in a while a programme comes along that just blows an audience away.