A British woman who did not eat food for the first decade of her life and was fed through a tube has died at the age of 26, her family announced, as per a report in The Telegraph. Tia-Mae McCarthy's mother, Sue McCarthy, found her unresponsive in her bed on April 28. The cause of her death remains unknown, but more tests are being carried out to ascertain how she died.
"There was nothing abnormal. She had a bit of a cough, but was otherwise well," said her brother, Din, 22.
"Her mindset was a lot younger than her physical age, so she couldn't live independently or have a job but she had a very full life. She loved horse riding and she was really into her arts and crafts."
Ms Mae McCarthy's case baffled scientists across the globe as she received nutrients, vital to the human body's sustenance, through a tube while she slept for the first 10 years of her life. Born 12 weeks premature and weighing just under a kilogram, Tia-Mae had a rare congenital disorder called oesophageal atresia, which affects just one in 40,000 children.
Since Tia-Mae's oesophagus and stomach were unconnected, she had to undergo a life-saving operation as a three-month-old toddler, where the two body parts were connected. For the first year of her life, Ms McCarthy recounts, her daughter spent most of the time in hospitals.
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Doctors baffled
Despite having other disabilities, doctors could not pinpoint any medical reason for her refusal to food. Ms McCarthy suspected that it was a psychological problem that stemmed from the early months of her life when Tia stopped breathing multiple times and had to be resuscitated.
Her case even featured in a 2006 documentary called The Girl Who Never Ate. As a desperate attempt, her mother took her to a specialist in Austria who ran a controversial research programme, which included periods of controlled starvation.
Tia-Mae showed interest in food for the first time when she was 10. The tube keeping her alive was subsequently removed in December 2012, and by the age of 15, she had a normal diet. However, she was never able to live independently due to her disabilities.
