A woman has died just hours before she was due to have a potentially life-saving operation to treat a condition that left her starving to death.
Nicolette Baker had shrunk to just three stone in weight and was on palliative care after the NHS said there was nothing more they could do.
A fundraising campaign had seen generous members of the public help raise nearly £100k for her to give her 'one last chance of life'.
But in a cruel twist, the 36-year-old died while awaiting the operation in Germany before she was able to be treated, SWNS reports.
Nicolette had suffered from Superior Mesenteric Arterial syndromes (SMAS) since birth but was only recently diagnosed after being wrongly told she was anorexic for most of her life.
The misdiagnosis has seen her sectioned on multiple occasions and been given wrong and 'traumatic' treatment throughout her life.
She was given one last hope after being made aware of potentially life-saving treatment costing £50k in Germany.
Speaking earlier this month, she said without this treatment she would die as she became weaker and more organs were starved of blood supply.
The German clinic specialises in severe vascular compressions had agreed to perform the surgery this month if she could find the cost.
Her community has rallied around her and she successfully raised £90k through a Go Fund Me page to cover accommodation, flights and insurances.
But although she was able to fly, she never go the chance to get the treatment she needed.
Since news of her death was announced, many friends and supporters of Nicolette paid tribute.
Her former school teacher James Kitto, who helped run a charity auction to support her said: "It is absolutely heartbreaking news. Nicolette had travelled to Germany and was so close to having the operation that could have changed her life, but it wasn’t to be.
“She was so incredibly grateful for - and amazed at - the amazing support she received from across the world.
“She was a selfless person. The most important thing in her life was being able to help others.
In a statement, Nicolette's family added: "We would like to thank everyone for their kind messages of sympathy and for sharing their lovely memories of Nicolette."
Also paying tribute were several of her supporters, including Amanda Bradley, who wrote: “This is heartbreaking. Nicolette fought so hard and with such dignity. She was always acting with such kindness despite her own battles.”
Speaking earlier this month, Nicolette, of Truro, Cornwall, said: “I am trying to keep the dream alive. The result of the surgery is not guaranteed but this is my last chance to reclaim my quality of life.”
She said she had planned to spend six weeks in Germany in total and after the local community helped her smash the target, she issued a heartfelt thank you to all those who have give her hope.
She added: "I don’t know if I’ll make it until the surgery date but I’m living for each day and the hope that I can get better is giving me something to look forward to."
"I am absolutely indebted to you, every one of you. Everyone who has donated in any way – monetarily, by sharing, by trusting or by connecting. I thank you all.
"So many of you are keen for me to keep you informed on my journey, by which I'm most humbled and it is the very least I can do."
Nicolette said she was finally diagnosed with SMAS in 2015, which refers to vascular compression in the small intestine, after experiencing pain when eating and drinking from the age of four.
The anticipated pain can cause sufferers to develop a fear of eating and around one-third of people with the syndrome die from malnutrition.
Nicolette previously said she was treated as a mental health patient for 25 years and told she had an eating disorder. But the syndrome is so rare with an incidence rate of just 0.013 per cent that it is not well known among UK medical professionals.
And she said although she felt "completely humiliated" during the decades she held no ill-feeling towards NHS staff who were trying to help her.
She added: "I am still deeply grateful for all the NHS treatment I received throughout the decades of my dismissed symptoms and it is merely due to its rarity that the medics gave me the diagnosis they thought fitted with my presenting symptoms.
"I truly believe that they did what they believed was right and I have only respect and gratitude for that despite it leading me to where I am now.
"I do believe they were motivated wholeheartedly to do the best for me and I have no regrets for my past medical experiences and traumas.
“I didn't have anorexia because I wanted to be thin. I simply didn't want to eat because of the pain it caused me."
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