Sad Story: Memphis Woman With An Illness No One Else In The World Has.. Costs Her Everything (Medical Mystery.. Growing Nails Instead Of Hair)

" What if an unknown illness cost you everything? That is what happened to a Mid-South woman whose medical crisis has baffled doctors for almost three years now.


It is a medical mystery you may find hard to watch, but what this woman lost to disease she has gained in strength and spirit.

Shanyna Isom was a high school graduate working toward a law degree.

"I was in my junior year and I was studying criminal justice," she said.

Today, loved ones have to help her get out of bed or off of the sofa.

"It's almost as if it's a nightmare and you're trying to wake up out of that," she says.

A nightmare that began in September 2009 when Isom had an allergic reaction to steroids she was given for an asthma attack. Within months, she was eaten alive by a debilitating skin disease doctors have yet to diagnose.

"Over time it started to turn my legs black with bumps," Isom said.

Doctors in Memphis treated Isom for everything from eczema to a staph infection." - 5 News