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A mum whose weight plummeted by five stone in just a year due to a horrific stomach condition says she is wasting away before her children’s eyes.
Self-confessed food lover Keelei Wood, from Cliftonville, survives on just pureed food - the only thing she can put in her system due to the debilitating condition known as gastroparesis, caused by type 1 diabetes.
The 41-year-old was diagnosed last year with the condition, which affects the nerves and muscles in the stomach, after her weight dropped from 12-and-a-half stone to seven-and-a-half.
She now needs £17,000 to fund surgery that would change her life by allowing her to eat properly again.
The former cleaner, who is unable to work due to symptoms including vomiting and collapsing, is frequently in hospital - often up to a week at a time - while medics administer treatment so she can eat.
She says it means being away from her sons, aged 12 and 14, and daughter, 20.
“The hospital is my second home,” she said.
"It's not great being told ‘you’ve lost weight, you look great’ when actually, your body’s starving you' - Keelei Wood
“They treat me until I’m well enough to eat and then I can go home, but I’m there every month.
“It means I’m apart from my children a lot and my parents have to have them, which is hard - my dad is 81, looking after two boys.”
Miss Wood says she was diagnosed last December after suffering horrendous symptoms.
“I had unexplained vomiting and nausea, lethargy, collapsing and dramatic weight loss,” she said.
“There was so much pain it caused insomnia. I’d gone from nearly 13 stone to under eight stone in the space of a year.
“I used to eat like a horse, but it's not great being told ‘you’ve lost weight, you look great’ when actually, your body’s starving you.”
Doctors put her symptoms down to diabetes but after further investigations they found she has the condition, which affects how her stomach empties of food.
“I can’t really do a lot of things now, even going to the shops, in case I’m sick,” she said. “My whole life has changed.
“I’m a big food person; I would eat so much. Now everything is pureed. I want to be able to have a big fat steak.”
Miss Wood has been told by an NHS specialist that she fits the criteria for gastroelectrical stimulation, which involves surgically implanting a battery-operated device under the skin of the stomach which sends electrical impulses to stimulate the muscles involved in controlling the passage of food.
'The operation would change my life; it would mean no longer having to be apart from my children' - Keelei Wood
But the procedure is not routinely funded by many NHS authorities, meaning Miss Wood must raise £17,000 to fund it herself.
“The treatment and food I get just sustains me but that’s all,” she said.
“The operation would change my life; it would mean no longer having to be apart from my children. I’m going to try in every way I can to raise money, instead of sitting around moping, doing nothing about it.
“I want my life back.”
The mum is planning fundraising events and will sell hampers and seasonal gifts to raise the money.
She has also set up a fundraising page at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-me-fund-my-gastric-pacemaker
