'I have rare stomach condition that can make me vomit 100 times a day - I'm scared it will kill me'

'I have rare stomach condition that can make me vomit 100 times a day - I'm scared it will kill me' Ella Rake, 22, lives with a condition where she is unable to keep food down that in turn leaves her unable to eat meals except for small portions of egg or melon A young woman is left terrified she will be killed by a stomach condition that causes her to vomit 100 times a day. Ella Rake, 22, suffers from severe gastroparesis, a condition where food passes through the stomach more slowly than it should, as well as colonic inertia, impaired muscular and nerve function in the colon. The condition left her unable to keep food down, and she mostly doesn't eat except for small portions of melon or egg. She is housebound, often bedbound, requiring a wheelchair, fainting daily, and rapidly losing weight, now weighing just over six stone. Ella, from Herne Bay, Kent, is fears the condition is having a strain on her heart and that she won't live much longer. "Everything with my health has just gradually gone downhill," she said. "It is really scary. My weight is dropping. My bones are very visible and I am just very weak all the time. I do worry how much more my body will take before it gives out. I say to my mum all the time that this is it and I am going to die." Ella has always lived with bowel and bladder issues but claimed it was repeatedly brushed off as IBS or anxiety. Things continued to get worse with stomach pain, vomiting spells and getting full quickly, which doctors said was likely an eating disorder. At 16, her bladder stopped working and she had to get a catheter. Then at 18, she was finally diagnosed with Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome - a connective tissue disorder, which led to tests on her stomach and intestines. Though these tests they discovered her severe gastroparesis. At the same time as the diagnosis, Ella lost her dad, who was only 48, to a cardiac arrest and says it was a very difficult period. She said: “It was a nightmare. Everything was going wrong in my life at the time. When I received the diagnosis it was a relief in the sense that I knew what was going on but at the same time when it hit me it was not very good. " Ella was given a tube to flush out her bowel through her rectum, but says she would just retain the water as it kept getting stuck. They have since tried many different medications and pelvic floor exercises, but nothing has helped. Doctors also tried a feeding tube, but this would get dislodged when she vomited and became a nightmare. Things have deteriorated, and on her worst days Ella said she has been sick 100 times a day. Ella said she wanted to be a vet but her dreams are on hold as she is too unwell to attend university. She struggles with consistently dropping potassium levels, which can leave Ella needing hospital treatment - sometimes facing up to three days of intravenous replacement potassium which she usually receives on a chair in A&E. Potassium is crucial for the heart, and because Ella has lost so much through vomiting, she has ended up with life-threatening arrythmias and cardiac rhythm disturbances. Ella said: “My main worry is my heart. When I get hooked onto the ECGs and I see the nurses freak out it is really scary to me. I lost my dad that way and we have a strong cardiac history throughout my family so it does worry me that this could be what will finish me off.” She has faced stomach obstructions and once didn’t have a bowel movement for six months. She has lost around four stone since first being diagnosed, but her weight can fluctuate massively depending on whether there is any food stuck. The weight loss has left her extremely weak, sometimes not even being able to walk down the stairs on her own. Despite being admitted to hospital hundreds of times Ella claims she was told unless her kidneys are failing, they will not intervene. She has suffered sepsis and AKI multiple times as a result of kidney problems. She added: “The doctors have been quite good at fighting my corner but the dietitians just don’t want to know. I just want to get better for my family’s sake as well. I hate seeing what this is putting them through as well.” Her mum Vicky Patmore has since started a GoFundMe page, which you can visit here, to try and fund private treatment for Ella, which has raised just over £300 so far. The mum wrote: “She is running out of options, and I'm terrified she is running out of time too. Please help us get the care she needs before we lose our beautiful girl.”