Megacolon Madness

Congrats to Philly’s Mütter Museum for making the New York Times top ten coolest museum list! Here is the museum’s famous dried human large intestine specimen alongside the megacolon plush we made for the Mütter’s gift shop. Their enormous 9-foot megacolon once belonged to Balloon Man, whose distended belly earned him a living as a sideshow attraction. Megacolon, aka Hirschsprung’s disease, is a condition where the bowel doesn’t have enough nerve endings to tell your body to send poop to the rectum. Hirschsprung’s is treatable now, but back in the 1800s, the condition could be fatal. Balloon man died at age 29 from chronic constipation — he often went for a month without a bowel movement — with 40 pounds of feces in his colon. 💩 We are mega happy for you, Mütter!