Meet the little girl who can’t eat

The little girl who can't eat

· But still takes a packed lunch to school every day so she doesn't feel left out

It is often a struggle to fit in at school. But five-year-old Ella Campbell tries harder than most.

The brave little girl carries a packed lunch to school every day - even though she suffers from a rare, incurable disease that makes her suffer excruciating pain whenever she eats.

Ella can't have a meal or even play with wheat-based Play-Doh due to a severe condition called eosinophilic gastrointestinal disease (EGD).

She has spent much of her short life in hospital while puzzled doctors struggled to diagnose the painful disorder that causes her to violently react to food, including extreme pain and vomiting.

After years of tests and being attached to machines at various hospitals, doctors at Great Ormond Street pinpointed the disease. The youngster is now fed a hypoallergenic elemental formula through a permanent feeding tube in her stomach.

Dedicated mum Karen Campbell, 31 from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, described how her daughter, who can only eat small amounts at school, finds it difficult to keep up with her classmates at lunchtime.

'Ella finds lunchtime stressful,' Karen, an A&E nurse, said.

'She takes a packed lunch with her because she feels pressured to eat, but for her it is just too painful.

'She wants desperately to fit in. Often when I pick her up from school she will get in the car and collapse because she has burnt herself out at school.

'She'll come home and immediately lie down and by the end of the week she usually does not have the energy to even attend school.'

Eosinophilic disorders occur when eosinophils, a type of white blood cell, are found in above-normal amounts in various parts of the body.

When Ella's body encounters allergens these eosinophils multiply in abnormal amounts and instead of fighting the harmful allergy they do the opposite, causing inflammation and tissue damage instead.

Karen said: 'There is very little research on Ella's condition and we went years without a diagnosis.

'It was a very frustrating and we felt angry that we had seen so many different doctors but no one really knew anything.

'She was very small and weak and always dehydrated. It was a scary time.

'She was very emaciated and last year when she first became unable to eat at all she kept fainting and losing consciousness and was being sick eight to ten times a day up until the age of two.

'There was speculation about whether she had cancer, they thought she might have rickets and that it was being caused by a tumour on the brain.'

Ella was diagnosed three years ago at Great Ormond Street Hospital, which is at the forefront of EGD research and treatment.

Ella is also required to take immunosuppressants - a type of chemotherapy drug - regularly, which leaves her open to infections.

'Because Ella is immunosuppressed she is more susceptible to infection, and illnesses have potential to become more serious so we have to be vigilant, and often she needs to go to the hospital to get antibiotics to fight infections,' Karen said.

'They don't know much about it but in the future it could flare up for no reason and it can be fatal.' Ella's little brother Adam, two, was also born with the condition but was diagnosed at birth.

Karen added: 'It's a massive reassurance knowing what it is with Adam, because he was diagnosed when he was born. The main thing is maintaining a very strict diet.'

Although his symptoms are as severe, Adam can eat small amounts of fruit, vegetables, and plain meat because he did not develop the fear of food Ella suffers from.

'Ella realised early that it was the food that made her sick so she became frightened of food,' Karen said.

As very little is known about the disease, Karen and husband Andy, 37, are hoping to raise awareness of the condition 'It's been very hard for me and my husband to deal with because we feel helpless to stop the pain.

'I had to give up my job as an A&E nurse for a few years because Ella was always in hospital.

'But Ella has been very brave and as a family we have been through a great deal.'

Culled from Daily Mail

Shocking confession of world's fattest mother

She holds the dubious honour of being the Guinness Book Of Records' fattest woman ever to give birth, requiring a team of 30 medics to deliver her daughter during a high-risk Caesarean birth.

Now, four years on, Donna Simpson has gained a further 12st and, staggeringly, continues to eat as she attempts to reach 72st and land a second record as the world's most obese woman.

And after splitting from long-term partner and feeder Philippe Gouamba, the 50st mother is relying on her four year-old daughter Jacqueline to bring her food to help her reach her goal.

The single mother-of-two, who eats over 15,000 calories a day to sustain her weight gain, struggles to get around and enlists the help of Jacqueline to buy and prepare food.

She told Closer magazine: She helps me cook and comes shopping. I use a scooter to get around the store and she runs ahead to get my favourite foods.

'Anyone who says I'm setting a bad example should shut their mouth - they don't know how much I love her.'

And Donna, who struggles to walk and suffers high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes, says that Jacqueline adores her large stomach.

'She's my little angel,' she says.

In contrast to her mother, Donna says Jacqueline eats healthily. 'She loves salad and plays sports,' she insists.

'I've taught her to accept all sizes. If she wasn't around to feed me, I'd have given up on my supersize dream.'

Donna says she is looking for a new feeder to take the pressure off her young daughter.

'He must be handsome, slim, and at least 10 years younger than me,' she says.

Her ex-partner Philippe - who Donna says loved her size - was a 6ft 4, 13st fitness fanatic. The two met on a dating site for plus-size people, even though Philippe weighed just 10st at the time.

He supported her 15,000-calorie a day diet and was a 'belly man' who loved her enormous shape.

Any takers needn't worry about funding the food bills these days.

Donna pays for her £500 weekly shopping bill with profits from a website she has set up for 'fat admirers' who pay to look at photographs of her eating.

She has 7, 000 fans and makes £60,000 a year.

Donna has always been plus sized.

When she was 19 she met her first husband, who worked as a chef at a steak restaurant.

'He worked night shifts and would come home at 2 or 3am and bring the leftovers with him,' she said.

'We'd stay up and eat huge piles of steak, mashed potatoes, and gravy with butter.

'I started gaining weight quickly and my husband liked it.

'He said I was sexier when I was bigger, and I felt happier too.'

When she was 27, Donna weighed 25 stone, and fell pregnant with her eldest son, Devin. Her marriage ended soon after and she turned to food for comfort.

By the age of 31, she weighed 43 stone and decided to try and lose weight. She lost five stones in six months and was due to have a gastric band operation.

But just before she was due to go under the knife, her friend died during a similar operation.

'That was a sign for me,' she said. 'I decided it just wasn't worth it. I like being the way I am.'

Donna, then 37 stone, came across a website which celebrated obese women.

When she admitted her real size, Donna was flooded with emails from men.

'They sent me gifts through the post, like protein shakes to help me put on weight faster,' she said.

And she's unrepentant of her weight-gain goal, despite risking her own life in the process.

'I love eating and people love watching me eat,' she said.

'It makes people happy, and I'm not harming anyone.'

Culled from Daily Mail