Woman thought fatal condition was bloating but she's actually 'starving to death' because of it
A woman who thought she was suffering with bloating is now 'starving to death' due to a rare health condition.
Charlotte Kent, a formerly 'outgoing and active' student, has spent 47 of the past 60 months in a hospital bed with an illness called superior mesenteric artery syndrome (SMA).
Also called Wilkie’s syndrome, it's a rare condition where part of the small intestine gets squeezed between two blood vessels in the belly.
This can block food from passing through, which causes tummy pain, feeling full quickly, nausea and weight loss.
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The 25-year-old from Earith, Cambridgeshire, was training to become a gymnast at 13 when she started to 'feel sick' and bloated.
After seven years, she developed unusual right-sided stomach pain.
Her mum, Leanne Bennett, 46, explained: "In February 2020, doctors whipped her appendix out in the hope it would stop her pain. But it only got worse.
"We started taking her to hospital every other month, because it was always something - pain, massive stomach distension, being sick - and, eventually, malnutrition."
In 2021, Charlotte needed a feeding tube as she couldn’t keep the food down.
A private radiologist later diagnosed her with rare condition that affects an unknown number of people.
He said her only option was a new Alvear procedure in which the duodenum is untwisted and repositioned.
It is not available in the UK, and in the US, the life-saving surgery costs over £30,000.
Leanne, her full time carer, said: "It's such a short procedure - it only takes one-to-two hours, if everything goes well - and it could save Charlotte's life. It's her only hope."
Charlotte added: “I have been struggling for way too long with the illness.
"It's really hard to deal with day-to-day.
"I feel like my life has stopped - the world continues to go round and I'm stuck in the same place.
"I wouldn't wish this on anybody, I just want a normal life - and I don't think that's asking much."
The mum, who has set up a GoFundMe, said her daughter has 'had an operation in the UK to redirect the bowel from the compression', which 'has not helped her due to late diagnosis of this syndrome'.
"This is why I am here now desperately trying to raise money to help her get this lifesaving treatment abroad and the cost it incurs to get her this lifesaving treatment, which I can not do by myself," she said.
"Charlotte is dying before my eyes - her body is just slowing down," Leanne added.
"Because SMA is so rare, doctors in the UK have little understanding about it - and she hasn't been offered the new surgery to correct it.
"The Alvear procedure is so new, it isn't yet available on the NHS."
Anish Vij