A 21-year-old student hasn't eaten a full meal for over three years after developing kidney stones "out of the blue".
Emma Tuck, from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, has to take eight different medications per day and is in desperate need of life-changing treatment that is not available on the NHS.
She developed bilateral kidney stones - one on each side - during her first year studying criminology at Leeds Beckett University in 2019.
This turned into an infection and she underwent surgery, while also being given an antibiotic treatment which "killed all her natural bacteria" and left her with a paralysed gastrointestinal system.
Her loved ones now "live in fear" of her getting another infection and she cannot eat without vomiting "around 20 times afterwards", reports Leeds Live.
Emma has spent the past three years undergoing surgeries and treatments which have sadly not been successful.
She said: "I can still eat and really do enjoy eating but unfortunately it comes back up and I end up vomiting around 20 times afterwards. I do miss my food."
Doctors believe that, due to the large amount of antibiotics that were used to treat Emma's kidney stones, the medicine killed off all of her health gut bacteria, effectively leaving her stomach paralysed.
This has resulted in "dangerous" weight loss, low BMI, low blood sugar and potassium levels in her blood.
Emma's mum, Helen Tuck, said the illness has left her daughter isolated at their home, which has "become a pharmacy".
She added: "Emma has lost the best three years of her life.
"Her illness has left her losing her friends, and socially isolated her from her peer groups. She is unable to get dressed up, go out to restaurants and bars or even just simply go shopping.
"Three years ago, life was good, and life was normal. Totally out of the blue, Emma developed bilateral Kidney stones and ended up with Pyelonephritis. She was having serious low blood sugar attacks and her risk of sepsis is high."
Emma and her family went on holiday in July, but say going away is "chaos" because they have to take 16 litres of IV fluid in their hand luggage, and three litres in a suitcase.
More recently, Helen found her daughter passed out in her car.
She said: "Following a weekend of being unwell, Emma decided she had enough. She got ready and went out to see her friend.
"Within two hours she called me as she felt so unwell and was too unwell to drive. I found her collapsed in her car, having a rigor with a extremely high temperature.
"So we drove her very quickly to Leeds hospital where she was admitted to A&E resuscitation room. Their knowledge of patients like Emma saved her life."
Emma's family are now fundraising for her to get a gastric pacemaker, which is not available on the NHS.
Helen said: "This surgery would drastically improve Emma’s quality of life and allow her to live a relatively normal long life."
The pair went for a joint private consultation last month, and say doctors were "very positive" about the treatment.
She added: "Unfortunately the cost for this alone was going to be around £30,000. It seems like every time we go to an appointment the price goes up.
"Our current target is £40,000, however, a lot of this has been spent on private clinic appointments, gastric emptying study, CT with contrast scan, gastric Botox that failed, private medication.
"We now need a minimum of £35000 for the gastric pacemaker and pre surgery tests."
Emma began her masters degree earlier this month, and hopes to work full-time one day. She was able to go into the university for her first week but felt too unwell this week.
Helen said: "It's going to be a long slog but she is too unwell to work so wants to study so that one day, she might be well enough to work and live a normal life."
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