“One In 50 Million” Utah Man Has Organs In Reversed Position
Apr 22, 2019, 10:30 PM
ST. GEORGE, Utah — From the outside, he looks totally normal—but on the inside, Scott Berryessa is completely mixed up and incredibly rare.
He has a genetic condition relatively unknown because of how few people are diagnosed with it.
Scott Berryessa is living the good life. He is retired and spending half the year in sunny St. George.
He and his wife, Marilyn have been married for five very active years.
“In fact, I have a hard time keeping up with him,” said Marilyn with a laugh.
When they were dating, Marilyn learned pretty quickly Scott’s heart just wasn’t in the right place – literally.
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“I could hear his heart on the right side,” she said.
For those a little confused, the “right” side is the wrong side for the heart to be.
“It’s called total situs inversus, which means I’m a mirror image of everybody else,” Scott said.
That makes him unlike pretty much unlike anyone else. His heart is not only in the wrong place, but all his other major organs are as well.
“It’s about one in 50 million,” Scott said.
He didn’t know he had the condition until a doctor diagnosed him at age 23.
“It was a shock and I asked him if I was going to have some problems because of it and he told me I probably wouldn’t because I had made it this far,” he said.
Most people born with the condition die at a young age. They certainly don’t play tennis in their retirement community.
“About five to 13 percent don’t live past the age of five,” Scott said.
Scott is 70-years-old and not slowing down one bit.
“(My condition) is a great conversation piece when I tell people,” he said, with a laugh. “If you put an x-ray up of you and turn it around it would look like me.”
One of the funniest questions he gets asked is where he places his hand during the pledge of allegiance.
“Yeah, it’s pretty weird I guess,” he said.
He and his wife are planning for many more healthy years together but eventually he plans to leave his body to science.
“I think they’d be interested in cutting me open,” he said.
While he’s still living, he plans to prove what’s on the inside (at least for him) doesn’t really count.
“To me, it’s just normal life and it’s wonderful,” he said.
