>Though today Benjy and most of the Fugate family descendants have lost their blue coloring, the tint still comes out in their skin when they are cold or flush with anger.
I wish they had included at least one photograph of this.
I wish they had included at least one photograph of this.
> Using research collected from studies of isolated Alaskan Eskimo populations, Cawein was able to conclude that the Fugates carried a rare hereditary blood disorder that causes excessive levels of methemoglobin in their blood.
> Cawein devised a cure for this disorder: more blue. Counterintuitively, the best chemical for activating the body’s process of turning methemoglobin to hemoglobin is methylene blue dye. The Fugates he treated ingested this dye and within a few minutes, the blue coloration of their skin disappeared, and their skin turned pink.
> As long as they kept ingesting pills of the substance regularly, these blue people of Kentucky could live their lives normally.
I can't confirm they are direct lineage or anything, though. I only know they were Fugate from eastern KY. It's not a particularly common name, nor is eastern KY particularly well populated so figure they are related in some manner.
Methemoglobinemia looks far less severe: https://blogs.brown.edu/emergency-medicine-residency/citw-14...