Doctors have been shocked by a teenager who has defied their predictions that she would die within half a year because of liver failure. Elle Wilkinson was told that if they were unable to find a donor liver within six months she would be dead. The 16-year-old from East Yorkshire took up eating a high carbohydrate diet which seems to have improved the condition significantly.
As well as the diet she has also been taking medication prescribed by the doctors. Her improvement has meant she has recently been taken off the list for those needing a liver.
The teenager commented, “It’s strange having to eat all these foods that are normally thought of as being bad for you, but they have saved my life.”
It is possible that she was suffering from the liver condition for up to 5 years before she realised as she just had the symptoms of a cough and cold. Her symptoms became much worse when she started continually vomiting last August. The diet that she is consuming is thought to have improved her condition because it contains many things that people suffering from liver failure normally lack, such as calories and protein.
It is also the case that if she doesn’t continue to eat a high carbohydrate diet then her muscles will start the waste. The carbohydrates are broken down by the body into sugar which supplies its main form of energy.
Her mother, Pam Wilkinson, has commented, “She is having a very different life to those other people her age, she rarely has much energy unless she is eating a very large number of carbohydrates. She can also never drink alcohol because her liver won’t be able to deal with it. Her diet of chocolate, cheese and shortbread is healthy for her.”
The condition she was diagnosed with was autoimmune hepatitis which is where the body’s own immune system attacks the liver cells. Despite her current recovery, doctors have warned that she might still need a liver transplant in the future. Her doctors are working hard to keep her healthy so this remains a distant possibility.
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