Posted on 02/24/2005 1:46:59 PM PST by AnOldCowhand
From the time Tilly Merrell was a year old, doctors told her family she would never have a normal life -- or even a normal meal.
British doctors found that the food she swallowed went into her lungs instead of her stomach, causing devastating lung infections. They said she had isolated bulbar palsy, and their solution was to feed her through a stomach tube. Forever.
But having a backpack with a food pump wired to her stomach wasn't much of a life for a girl whose favorite smell is bacon frying -- a girl who once broke through a locked kitchen door in an effort to sneak some cheese. So her family got help from their community of Warndon, about 120 miles north of London, raising enough money to take Tilly, now 8, on a 5,000-mile journey they hoped might change her life, a journey to Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University.
Doctors at Packard were intrigued that she had no neurological symptoms often associated with the palsy. In all other ways, she was a normal child with a mischievous smile and a truckload of energy. After seeing her Feb. 7, they ran three tests and found out what was wrong with her.
Nothing.
She had infections, certainly, but they were long gone. And when she swallowed something, it went into her stomach, not her lungs.
Doctors prescribed occupational therapy, figuring that Tilly's body and mind needed to be conditioned, after 7 1/2 years of struggling, so that it would be all right to eat normal food.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
No. They brought her to the US.
Good thing they didn't remove her feeding tube....
they ran three tests and found out what was wrong with her. Nothing.
Amazing.
Wow.
You watch, there won't be a word in the British press about how socialized medicine deprived this baby of one of life's simplest pleasures for seven years, and in fact nearly ruined her whole life.
Not fish and chips wrapped in a newspaper, not jellied eels, not bangers and mash, but THIS:
But aren't their healthcare systems superior to ours in every way.< /sarcasm >
At least that's what we keep hearing.
Come to think of British food, maybe she was better off before.
Of course it's a backward nation when it comes to medice, they have a socialized system. They are cretins, or bureaucrats, whichever is stupider, take your pick.
I'd be curious as to whether you still think so after watching this slide show:
Whoops....you were comparing what was in her backpack to British food, not comparing American food to British food, weren't you?
My bad :-(
Actually, no...I was thinking of their staples like meat pies and boiled beef. I don't even want to think about their vegetables.
Maybe I've only seen the worst but I dated a girl from GB for awhile in high school, her family tried to pass off the most tastless gruels as good food. ARRRGGG...Just remembering it makes me want to wretch.
Agreed....when I visited London, I encountered the most spectacular and wonderful INDIAN restaurants that I had run across but the traditional British fare left me aghast and wanting to search for even a McDonald's. I was less than impressed.
It's nice to know that this young gal has an intrinsic knowledge of what's right, however :-)
Asked about her first meal she said "It tastes like chicken."
Some of the dishes in your slide show looked pretty appealing, Stoat.
Others looked downright weird.
Spent some time in the UK in the early 1970s. TDY to RAF Mildenhall. Liked their Bangers & Mash. Their mutton. Loved their Yorkshire pudding!
Couldn't get behind the idea of room temperature beer, so I fell in love with Single Malt Scotch instead. The Brits do seem to love their Beans & Spam too.
Jack.
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Posted on 03/08/2005 3:52:55 PM PST by EveningStahttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1358785/posts
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