TV news about man with Fir tree growing in his lung

Here is a TV news story about Artyom Sidorkin, the Russian gentleman who recently had a two-inch live Fir tree removed from his lung where it had taken root. For more on his story, see "The diagnosis? Fir on the lung" in The Guardian. (via Morbid Anatomy)

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Anonymous

whatch what you eat there could be a seed.
Anonymous

im scared to eat anything with seeds now
Summer

In the real Russia, tree inhales you.
Quothz

Looks like a fir seedling to me. I’ve no opinion on whether it grew partially while in the lungs, but it’s consistent with photos of fir seedlings. A fully-developed fir branch has much longer needles.

#14, the pine seedling photo you linked is not a fir. It looks like a white pine to me, although it’s hard to tell. 5 and 8, the blogster you linked claims fir seedlings don’t have full inflorescence but doesn’t appear to know what the word means (needles are leaves, not flowers). Besides that, fir seedlings do not have particularly sparse needles.
The Unusual Suspect

I bet he had fresh pine-scented breath.
Anonymous

Wait, I’ve been growing a pine tree for the last five years and mine doesn’t look that good!
Anonymous

And this is why your mom told you not to eat watermelon seeds.
Anonymous

Logger’s lung, aka Paul Bunyan’s disease.
Anonymous

WHAT DID THEY DO WITH THE TREE?
How can we sleep at night without knowing where this predator lurks?
Anonymous

How do they know it actually grew there, and that he didn’t just inhale a twig like that?
Anonymous

Nope. He aspirated it, most likely, rather than having had it grow inside of him.

http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2009/04/russian-man-did-not-aspirate-fir-tree.html

-Darren MacLennan
erindipity

(Ent)
angrypaladin

Wow! That must have been one of those new, carnivorous, non-UV photosynthesis, coniferous trees. They’re all the rage with the kids this season!

/Skeptical cat iz very skeptical
Anonymous

That’s funny, because I developed a bad infection and lung cysts after having a christmas tree in my house for a month.

The doctors concluded it was histoplasmosis caused by a bird’s nest in the tree that I must have missed. Okee……I decorated the christmas tree, don’t you think I would have known if there was a bird’s nest in it?

I wonder if I had some baby trees growing in there. Hahaha. Actually it wasn’t so funny at the time, I was coughing up blood at the time.

Doc says my lungs encapsulated the invading infection, leaving me with cysts, which I still have today.
Anonymous

Did nobody catch the TERRIBLE puns? “Doctors were stumped,” “the root of this mystery,” etc.

Where have you gone Yakov Smirnoff?
dainel

That lump of tissue appears to be resting on some gauze, out of the body. Did they removed half his lung together with the embedded fir?
J France

Been wandering when this would pop up here… seemed inevitable and very boingboingish when I saw it on my local news.

It just made me think of the X-Files, and the black oil episodes (Tunguska?). Not natural, and clearly the result of some sort of human / plant hybrid experiments accidently released from the lab.

Now i’m off to get a tinfoil hat and a facemask.
Kieran O’Neill

I dunno – seeds contain a lot of stored energy and nutrients, so I would guess that in theory the thing could grow (at least a little) without any external sources of energy. What I’m more surprised about is the germination, since that usually takes quite specific conditions to kick it off.

Anyway, IANAB (I am not a botanist).
karengeier

this has been thoroughly debunked. http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2009/04/russian-man-did-not-aspirate-fir-tree.html

short answer: what angrypaladin said
Takuan

avoid dried pigeon shit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptococcosis
kate

Urgh. The worst part about the piece of tissue has to be the fly buzzing around and randomly landing on it. Reminds me of that NIN Closer video.
Anonymous

I for one welcome our seedling overlords.
Baby Bodysnatchers.
IamInnocent

“Igor, if you don’t get your butt of that couch you’re going to grow root!”
blueelm

karengeier @ 4

Look at that, a simple answer. He inhaled it. Occam’s razor FTW.
pjk

Bullshit. First of all, all that talk about a “Russian doctor.” I mean, come on, they expect us to believe there are doctors in Russia???
FreakCitySF

Never saw a root, could be a BBQ cow rib with a single needle cluster stuck in and Boris to play the “Dr.”
WalterBillington

Check out Boris Vian – L’Ã©cume des jours (Froth of the days). Written in the 50s or so, the protaganist’s girlfriend has a lily growing in her lungs. He was french, lived in the US for a while, wrote those semi-sardonic / semi admiring type books about what he saw; all in the most surreal and abstract humour.
Anonymous

Is there a small nate or fly buzzing around on the tissue? Is it the newest treatment for Pine Beetles?
dole

“It will take FIR-ther investigations to get to the ROOT of this mystery.”

*cues loser’s theme from The Price Is Right*
http://bombombombomwooooo.com
(not a spammer, just thought the link was funny.)
Anonymous

Are you guys serious? Do you really not see that it’s a mouse pointer and not a fly?
Anonymous

@ #12, 17

I don’t think that’s a fly- it’s the cursor on his computer. Not all pointers are arrows.
Anonymous

Sheriff, what kind of fantastic trees have you got growing around here? Big, majestic…
Douglas firs.
justanotherusername

How can somebody inhale such a thing and not remember it?
Oh wait… it’s Russia. :D
fullerenedream

Yeah, that’s the tip of a branch, not a seedling. As noted, it’s got no roots. It’s also got lots of stiff-looking needles and a thick stem, while a seedling’s needles are sparser and softer, with a thin stem.

Pine seedling:
http://www.pbase.com/bkiefer/image/58014705