TINY TIM: Was it rickets? Kidney disease? Or some other cruel
illness?[neWLine]

It’s the Christmas season so we turn today and tomorrow to Dr.
Daniel Glunk, an internist from Williamsport, who has taken upon
himself to investigate a true medical mystery: What was really
wrong with Tiny Tim?[neWLine]

Glunk, chairman of the Pennsylvania Medical Society, has
examined the symptoms Tiny Tim presented in the Charles Dickens’
1843 classic, “”A Christmas Carol.””[neWLine]

Today, let’s look at the symptoms.[neWLine]

Thanks to the Ghost of Christmas Present, we know that Tiny Tim
would soon die, Glunk says. We know that Tiny Tim used a crutch,
was very small, and very sick. We also know that Bob Cratchit
carried his son periodically, possibly a signal of muscle
fatigue.[neWLine]

From the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, we see the Cratchit
house without Tiny Tim, and thus we assume that this confirmed the
prediction made by the Ghost of Christmas Present.[neWLine]

Financially, we know that Scrooge didn’t pay Bob Cratchit enough
money. His meager salary was not enough to buy good food and
medicine for Tiny Tim. Plus the Cratchit house was very
small.[neWLine]

Historically, we know that Tiny Tim was growing up in London in
the mid-1800s.[neWLine]

But, as all three ghosts, along with Scrooge’s deceased partner,
Jacob Marley, help Scrooge turn from a miser to a kind and generous
man, fans of A Christmas Carol are also led to believe that the
kind pay raise that Scrooge gave Bob Cratchit helped to save Tiny
Tim.ðBob would be able to afford good food and
medicine.[neWLine]

Dr. Glunk examines three possible diagnoses: Could it be RTA?
Renal tubular acidosis is a kidney disease that makes blood too
acidic.[neWLine]

Rickets? Other Internet medical sleuths suggest that Tiny Tim
could have suffered from a Vitamin D deficiency, commonly known as
rickets.[neWLine]

Finally, some Internet sleuths believe a conspiracy theory
exists and that something other than a disease could have caused
Tiny Tim’s death.ðAfter all, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
only showed the Cratchit House without Tiny Tim and never said how
he died.ð Fans of the classic story are only led to believe Tiny
Tim died of what ailed him, but are not provided positive
proof.ðCould it be a Dickens literary trick?