The story about how one 4-year-old boy from Aliso Viejo, California hatched a sea snail inside his knee and later decided to keep it as a pet is now making headlines.Apparently, the sea snail egg worked its way inside Paul Franklin's body when the latter went on a trip to Spooner's Cove beach. At that time, the boy fell and injured his knee.
The boy's mother, Rachel Franklin, explains that, at first, neither her nor her husband paid all that much attention to their son's skinned knee.
However, since the wound wasn't healing as it was supposed to, they paid a visit to a local doctor. He concluded that Paul's knee “owie” was infected, and gave him a prescription.
Despite taking the drugs recommended by the doctor for about ten days in a row, Paul did not experience any improvement in his condition, The Examiner reports.
What's more, the wound got worse each day, and at one point, gangrene started setting it.
“It was just a little owie., but one that kept seeping and never quite scabbed up,” mother Rachel recollects.
At this point, Paul's mother decided to ignore the doctor's advice not to squeeze the pus out, and did just that.
Oddly enough, when Rachel squeezed the wound, what came out was a tiny sea snail that, contrary to expectations, was very much alive.
“There's a freakin' little guy in there!” Rachel reportedly screamed.
The family is still having difficulties understanding how the sea snail egg stayed alive inside the boy's knee, continued to develop and even hatched.
The same source informs us that, after the sea snail was removed from inside his knee, Paul decided to keep it as a pet. He even named it Turbo.
The sea snail now lives in an aquarium together with Paul's other pet, a fish named Dory.
Check out the video below to learn more about this peculiar medical case.