A 13-year-old girl has been left in agony for 11 weeks by a mystery illness. Dilys Gibbon was initially diagnosed with Crohn's Disease in July.
However, the schoolgirl from Disley, near Stockport, was taken to hospital on September 30 with crippling pain which tests showed wasn't linked to Crohn's.
Mum Cath has kept a bedside vigil and told the Manchester Evening News that Dilys can spend hours curled up in a ball crying, with the family desperate to find out what's causing it so they can take her home.
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Cath told the MEN: "We thought we might just be in hospital for a couple of days, but we're still here. She's had a lot of tests to see what's causing the problems and seen lots of consultants but nothing seems to be showing, and all they can do is give painkillers.
"We asked about the possibility of a second opinion or going to a different hospital but don't think we can. The doctors are really trying their best but we feel they've done all they can and we're desperate to find out what can help her. Some days the pain is so bad she doesn't eat or drink anything, which isn't nice to see at all and she can hardly sleep.
"Somebody somewhere must know what is going on, she's missed a whole term of school now. When she's not had painkillers she describes her pain as a 9 or 10 out of 10, a lot of the time she just curls up into a ball and cries because she can't cope with it."
The 13-year-old Stockport Grammar School student has missed a whole term of education and faces spending Christmas in Manchester Children's Hospital.
Mum Cath and dad Simon have been sleeping on the ward with Dilys, who has regular doses of painkillers to try and limit the pain. Feeling like there is 'no light at the end of the tunnel', they are desperate to find someone who can help her, and for her to be home to celebrate Christmas with her younger sister Percy.
"It feels like we are running out of time and nothing is working. There must be someone out there who has been through the same thing who can help us, we just keep being told we don't know what's going on, they just give her painkillers to try and help her be more comfortable.
"It feels like we've done everything we can and more but we are still here 11 weeks on, it's so sad for her we'll have to spend Christmas here. We have another 10-year-old daughter at home who is in tears pleading with us to come home. It's heartbreaking, I have shed so many tears."
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