A groom-to-be who was “kidnapped” by his so-called “friends” in a horrific bachelor party prank developed the shingles as a result of the stress he endured, nearly ruining his wedding.
Ollie McAninch and his fiancee Clair Hart were enjoying a drive through the countryside in England when they were ambushed by 16 hooded men who threw smoke grenades and shouted obscenities at them.
The men dragged McAninch from his car and made him get into an “orange Guantanamo Bay-style jumpsuit” before tying his hands and throwing him into the back of their van. His wife, who was in on the stunt, acted terrified as her future husband was taken away.
“For more than two hours I was in that van. I’ve never been so scared,” McAninch told The Sun.
The groom was driven over 100 miles away where he was finally told that the whole thing was fake, but the prank wasn’t over just yet. McAnich’s “friends” then forced him to put on a lime green “mankini” (like Borat’s) and made him ride a bike 10 miles to his actual bachelor party, which he originally thought was the following week.
After the harrowing experience, McAninch developed the “shingles,” which is a painful rash that you get when the virus that causes chickenpox starts up again in your body.
According to a WebMD article about the virus:
Shingles is most common in older adults and people who have weak immune systems because of stress, injury, certain medicines, or other reasons. Most people who get shingles will get better and will not get it again.
Shingles occurs when the virus that causes chickenpox starts up again in your body. After you get better from chickenpox, the virus “sleeps” (is dormant) in your nerve roots. In some people, it stays dormant forever. In others, the virus “wakes up” when disease, stress, or aging weakens the immune system. Some medicines may trigger the virus to wake up and cause a shingles rash. It is not clear why this happens. But after the virus becomes active again, it can only cause shingles, not chickenpox.
Though you can’t necessarily “catch” the shingles from someone else who has it, there is a small chance that a person with the shingles can spread the virus to another person who has never had the chickenpox and who hasn’t gotten the chickenpox vaccine.
So as a precaution, doctors advised McAninch to stay away from his future bride for at least a month. “I was really worried I would miss the big day,” the groom-to-be said.
Ultimately, the couple did get married (earlier this month, actually) and McAninch’s friends were still invited, though he isn’t about to forgive and forget anytime soon.
“I’ve logged it for future vengeance,” he said.
