Camille was in first grade when she first noticed the terrible stench she seemed to carry around everywhere she went. No matter what she did, the smell plagued her.
Kids mocked her and even her school teachers pulled her aside and asked her to shower.
“One of my teachers asked me if I was showering every day. From that point on, she kind of sat me in the corner of the classroom. Kids would call me a freak. They would tell me I smelled like horse manure [and] dead fish,” she told ABC News.
But no matter how often Camille bathed and how hard she scrubbed, the terrible smell wouldn’t go away.
Camille later worked hard on getting her Master’s degree in Education and began teaching. But things never got better. This time the students in her class made fun of her, calling her names. Her self-confidence was destroyed and she began to contemplate suicide more and more often.
It took years before Camille finally got answers about why she smelled so badly — and thankfully, a solution would come to her just in time.
She googled the words ‘fishy body odor’ and finally came across an answer that left her stunned.
Camille was suffering from Trimethylaminuria (TMAU) — and she wasn’t the only one. The long and complex word seems very confusing, and certainly it is. She’d been suffering from the rare disease since she was a child. Only about 600 people in the whole world suffer from the rare disease.
It is caused by a pungent chemical in the body called trimethylamine, which normal individuals can get rid of without the smell seeping through. But individuals suffering from TMAU have high levels of trimethylaminein their bodies and cannot easily be rid of it.
The worst part of it is that patients suffering from the condition can’t detect their own odor.
Thankfully there are a few ways she could remedy it, primarily through diet.
Camille had to bravely fight against her unusual disease by keeping strong tabs on her diet. The chemical can be found in most foods, meaning she has to keep a strict diet, avoiding all foods that can make her condition worse.
Camille met others with the condition, and one woman in particular also suffering from the condition, Sandy (pictured below), was pivotal in helping her fight through.
Watch the report below on Camille’s condition:
What an unusual but distressing condition! I think it teaches us a lot about being kind to everyone — you never know their back story! I hope Camille continues to bravely combat her disease and has everything she desires and deserves in life! Please pass her story on if you wish her the same.