Leo Gillick
As a girl, Tia-Mae McCarthy was unable to eat due to a rare condition. But thanks to the work of doctors, she could live an almost normal life by the age of fifteen. However, she has recently died due to a risk associated with her childhood issues.
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A Bad Start: When she was born. Tia-Mae McCarthy’s esophagus and stomach were not attached. This meant that, from birth, she was sustained through a feeding tube. All of her young life, she was unable to eat.
- She was featured on a documentary, cleverly named The Girl Who Never Ate. It spoke about the struggles she had growing up, and how her life had to be molded around her condition. But thanks to the wonders of modern medicine, there was hope for her.
Light On The Horizon: Despite her life-changing condition, the girl who couldn’t eat had a chance of a normal life. Doctors never gave up on her, and they performed a surgery that should have allowed her to eat. But, due to reasons that doctors believed were psychological rather than physical, she was still unable to eat food normally.
- Eventually, she went to Australia, where, at the age of 7, she was drinking liquids. By 10, the girl who couldn’t eat started ingesting normal food. By 15, she was eating like a normal person with a regular diet.
Disaster Strikes
Despite having surgery as a child and living as a normal person from the age of 15, there were still risks associated with the girl who couldn’t eat. The doctors had done their best to make her insides normal, but there was always a chance something could go wrong.
Cause of Death: Tragically, McCarthy died of asphyxiation at the age of 26. This, according to doctors, was always a risk due to her childhood condition. She was found at home by a family member after she died.
The death of the girl who couldn’t eat came as a shock. But it was a risk she always lived with. At least she had a few years to enjoy the wonderful world of food.
