The mum of a student who has a rare condition that leaves her unable to eat without instantly throwing up, has said that seeing her daughter like that is 'soul destroying.' Helen Tuck’s, 63, daughter Emma, 22, became ill 'out of the blue' three years ago when she developed bilateral kidney stone which led to an infected kidney.
Emma then had to have surgery and went on antibiotics to help fight the infection, but this suddenly killed her natural gut bacteria. This also paralysed her gastrointestinal system, which means she cannot digest her food.
When she was healthy, Emma weighed around 50kg but that soon dropped to just 35kg when she became ill. She has now luckily managed to build her weight back up, but if she gets an infection then she loses around 4kg.
She is now unable to live her life as a normal 22-year-old, as she has spent months on end in hospital and can't socialise due to the risk of getting an infection. Helen has said that seeing her daughter like this ‘just destroys’ her.
She said: “It just destroys me to be honest. She’s young and she’s just one of the nicest kids.
“If I’m not very well, she still tries to help me even when I say no. We are quite close because she’s 22 but hasn’t fled the nest and still needs my support.
“It’s full on looking after her, because she has a lot of drugs and can’t take anything orally, I have to crush them for her. It’s tough because she just wants to be normal.”
The family are now raising £40,000 for a gastric pacemaker, which will 'drastically improve' Emma’s life and let her live a normal life. The treatment will allow her allow her to eat as normal - without her throwing up straight after.
Helen said: "When Emma found out the cost of the treatment, she just burst into tears. I told her we would do whatever it takes, even if that means remortgaging the house or selling our pensions.
"But Emma disagreed and said it wasn't right, because she said that we need to live and our pensions are what we have worked for. Then she asked why an alcoholic can have a liver transplant and somebody that smokes can have a heart transplant.
"She has done nothing wrong in her life and can't have the treatment she needs."
Helen is doing everything she can to raise money for the treatment - including breeding a litter of puppies. She said: "We bred one of our dogs in COVID, but you can't breed them until they've had two seasons after because it's classed as puppy farming and that's not fair.
"She was able to be bred this year, so we decided to try again to see if we could raise some money and we managed to sell six. We kept one puppy last time and keeping one when Emma was in hospital seemed like a good idea for her because she gets a lot of comfort from dogs.
"But I was trying to visit Leeds every day while having a puppy at home that needed a lot of attention so that was quite challenging."
You can donate to Emma’s Go Fund Me here https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-emma-get-treatment-to-get-her-life-back?qid=3ac230263ec23e41828f2621dd70ed
