Woman who just thought cereal was 'off' is now 'starving to death' after stomach stopped working
A mum-of-three has been told that she's 'starving to death' after a devastating health diagnosis.
Emile Cullum's health problems first began back in November 2024, believing that she'd simply eaten a bowel of cereal with 'off' milk when she vomited for the first time after eating.
However, over a year on and the 36-year-old has been told that her stomach has stopped working completely and that she's at serious risk of 'starving to death'.
Emile headed to work as normal after throwing up the first time but found herself admitted to hospital after 10 straight days of vomiting, where doctors revealed that she had Crohn's disease.
Advert
The NHS explains that Crohn's is a long-term condition where part of your gut becomes inflamed. Sadly, it cannot currently be cured, but there are treatments that can help prevent or manage the symptoms.
Symptoms include diarrhoea, blood or mucus in your poo, stomach pain, constipation, pain in your bottom (anus), feeling very tired or generally unwell, and loss of appetite and losing weight.
Emile consulted a specialist in February 2025 as she was still struggling to keep food down, and it was there that she was told that she has gastroparesis, a chronic condition that means her stomach is partially paralysed.
She said: "When I saw the specialist he was like 'it's your stomach that's hurting, not your rib'. He said 'your stomach is completely broken and nothing is going through' and that's when I got the diagnosis.
"It was fine because I just thought they could fix it but then I was losing more and more weight and people were commenting.
"While I was in hospital they scanned me and they said if I don't get some weight on me, essentially I'm 'forced' anorexic, so I probably haven't got much longer than a year."
By the end of the summer of 2025, her weight had plummeted from 8st 5lb to 4st 8lb, and the NHS have now put her on palliative care as she is unable to gain weight.
She is raising money to fund private treatment that will allow her to spend more time with her children, some of whom are going through school exams while their mother struggles so much.
Emile said: "The thought of having to leave my children is horrific, it's unthinkable.
"It's hard, the children are growing up and we thought we were going to have all these years, we did it young and it's just not worked out that way.
"I don't want to go into hospital knowing that I don't have that much time left and not spending it with my family."
There is still hope after a permanent tube was fitted in her bowel and allowed her to put on 14lbs, but its only through private Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) treatment that she has any real chance of long-term survival.
She needs to gain weight in order to undergo the treatment, which sadly would only prolong her life rather than providing a cure.
James Moorhouse