Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Discovery Channel viewers who watched a recent episode of Mystery Diagnosis were as stumped as doctors when the show featured the case of Baby Julie, a 10-month-old who began taking anti-seizure medication after suffering two seizures. Shortly afterward, her eyes swelled shut and she developed strange blisters on her back. She was diagnosed with conjunctivitis, or red eye, in both eyes and the common childhood virus, chickenpox. But her condition worsened.

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It’s been almost a year since we last checked in on Rachel Corley-Gutierrez, better known by her YouTube moniker, SpunkyRachel. The young woman was diagnosed with the rare but life threatening allergic reaction to medication known as Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS) just two weeks after taking ibuprofen for a headache. Her YouTube video diaries track her long and painful road to recovery. Her latest update is encouraging.

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SpunkyRachel is back and she’s looking great. You may remember SpunkyRachel from previous posts. We’ve been following her recovery from Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS) on YouTube. Her videos offer a personal insight into her emotional struggle as she copes with the physical recovery from the rare but life-threatening skin condition.

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It’s good to hear SpunkyRachel’s voice again. She is the woman we first met last December, who put video testimonials on YouTube about her experience with Stevens Johnson Syndrome, or SJS. In the early videos, her hair is missing and white patches cloud her dark skin. She had just been released from the hospital, where she stayed for several weeks, much of that time in a drug-induced coma where she clung on to life.

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Joe Way may have passed away in May, but he leaves behind a legacy that will touch lives in his community of Cornwall, England, forever.

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Rachel, known as SpunkyRachel online, says she was caught off guard by friends – both old and new – who had seen her videos on YouTube. She had posted several of them these past few months – some with her bald head uncovered and her dark skin blotched with white patches.

Rachel was looking for others like her – people who had taken common medication, like ibuprofen from the super market, and had a severe adverse reaction called Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS) or its most severe form toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN).

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“I was a fairly attractive woman before. Now I’m just butt-ass ugly,” says Rachel, known as SpunkyRachel on YouTube. She says this on one of the videos she has posted to the site. She hopes they will spur a YouTube support group for others like her, who have lived through the pain and are recovering from Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS).

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Rev. Samuel Irwan Santoso of Indonesia speaks with a heavy accent, but the meaning of his words are clear – he has no tears. “I have no tears for five years,” he says on his YouTube video. “You must be happy because you have tears. You can cry.”

In January 1998, Santoso came down with a fever and sore eyes. He went to two different doctors and received medication for his condition, but he became increasingly sicker. “Suddenly all my skin blistered. My eyes became blind,” he says as disturbing photos of him flash on the video. Santoso was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS).

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