AN OAP mum who feels no pain, does not experience fear and is “always happy” has astonished experts.
Jo Cameron’s genetic mutation also makes her wounds heal quicker and gives her a stress-free life.
Boffins think the 71-year-old medical marvel may hold the key to tackling chronic pain conditions. Her “superpowers” were only discovered in 2013 when she suffered no discomfort following surgery on severe hip joint degeneration.
Jo also felt no pain after what should have been excruciating surgery on a hand left deformed by arthritis. Hospital consultant Dr Devjit Srivastava checked her files and found she’d never been given pain relief despite having two kids and several broken bones.
She said: “They stuck different pins in me in one test but I felt no pain. They put heat pads on me, but again I felt nothing. They had to stop it as they knew it would damage me, even if I felt nothing.”
She was also able to eat a whole Scotch bonnet chilli.
Experts at University College London and Oxford University studied Jo, of Whitebridge, Inverness, for six years and found two gene mutations that cause her condition.
The former special needs lecturer, married to Jim, 72, added: “I’m sickeningly happy too, which annoys people. You only realise when it’s odd when people talk about it.
“I’ve decided I’m going to live to 120 as I have no stress and that is the biggest killer.”
