A 17 year old girl with no functional stomach, who has never eaten food in her life, has spoken publicly about living with Gastroparesis.
This was contained in a post shared on a popular social media platform, TikTok.
The girl identified as Emma, with the username emmakok, introduced herself and revealed that she has lived with this rare condition since birth.
She explained that she cannot eat any basic meal and survives with the help of feeding tubes.
Her statement in full reads:
“Hi, my name is Emma. I am 17 and I have a chronic illness called Gastroparesis. Gastroparesis simply means my stomach is paralyzed, it doesn’t work. Because my stomach is paralyzed, it can’t digest any food. Which also means I’m not able to eat any food and that is why I have two feeding pumps.”
“These are the two, they’re for my intestines and stomach. I have had these two feeding pumps since I was a baby so I have never eaten anything in my life.”
“I can eat the tiniest bits like honey or a cup of tea or simply just some water but no, I have never eaten a hamburger or chocolate or spaghetti or anything. That makes it even harder because food is such a big thing in someone’s life.”
Emma went on to explain the challenges of living with this little known condition.
“Gastroparesis is not a well known disease and that makes it hard for us patients who have Gastroparesis. We’re not very well heard in hospitals but we have real symptoms. But the doctors call it anxiety or stress and that makes us feel pretty stupid.”
She concluded by stressing the importance of awareness.
“I am making this video to share this illness, to spread awareness, to be heard. So please just listen.”
WATCH VIDEO:
@emmakok ✨GASTROPARESIS✨ Here you have a little explanation about the chronic illness that I have 💘 Disclaimer: I have nothing against hypnotherapy or anything like this form of therapy, I respect everyone in that field of expertise 🫶 #fy #foryou #fyp #foryoupagе #viral #trend #trending #furdich #furdichseite #furdichpage #voorjou #voorjoupagina #voorjoupage #blowthisup #blowthisuptiktok #emmakok #tiktoker #feedingtubeawareness #feedingtubelife #feedingpumps #gastroparesis #gastroparesiswarrior #gastroparesisawareness #gastroparesisstomach #gastroparesistok #chronicillness #chronicillnessawareness #chronicillnesswarrior #chronicillnesstiktok #chronicillnesslife #chronicillnesshumor #chronicillnessfyp