A 16-month old toddler who was born with her intestines outside of her body has undergone six surgical procedures in the last four months and has never tasted real food, the Daily Mail reports.
Georgia Diamond was born with gastroschisis, a rare abdominal defect, which caused her intestines to develop outside of her body. The condition has made her dependent on a feeding line attached to her heart, which means she has never tasted any type of food. Her mother, Lisa James, 25, found out about her daughter's defect when she was 20 weeks pregnant. Gastroschisis affects one in 3,000 babies in the United Kingdom every year.
"Pregnancy was terrifying because I did not know what to expect," she said. At 20 weeks, the doctors told us Georgia's intestines were on the outside. I didn't really know what to think." As a result, after Georgia was born, she was forced to spend the first 14 months of her life at Noah's Ark Children's Hospital. "I was there every single day, from first thing in the morning until last thing at night, when she would go to sleep. She has had six operations since birth. The first was at Christmas after she was born, I was terrified. We spent more time in hospital than at our real home."
Lisa said: "This Christmas was the best one ever. We had all the family at my house and Georgia had HappyLand toys and musical toys. I loved it because it was the first thing I was able to do for her. I had never even been able to change a nappy. We have the equipment to look after her at home with a fridge that we keep all the fluids in. It takes half an hour a day to set it up."
