London: A 17 year old girl who suffers from a horrific and mysterious condition has baffled the doctors in UK who struggle to find a proper diagnosis for three years. Marnie Harvey's medical situation causes her to tear thick, stinging blood, which also flow from her ears. The ordeal began when she woke up with blood spatters on her pillow.
No amount of tests or change in diets worked as her condition continued to worse until last year when she woke up to 'gloopy' blood seeping from her eyes. She currently bleeds from her eyes, nose, ears, and fingernails up to five times a day. She also began to bleed from her tongue and scalp in the recent weeks. Thought to be the only person in the UK with the unique symptoms, Harvey from Stoke-on-Trent recalled her first moment saying, “Red , gloopy tears were dripping out of my right eye. I had blood all over my face and a shooting pain behind my eyes. I felt my way downstairs and my parents, brother and sister all screamed when they saw me. My brother called an ambulance.”
She was sent for a chest scan, which came back all clear, however, the symptom continued for two years. The teenager later developed a pain in her side and also began suffering migraines and sickness which caused her to miss weeks of school. Her attendance fell below 50 per cent and although she managed to take her GCSEs, she did not get the results she had hoped for. “We had the medical letters but there were times I didn’t go to school for weeks because the migraines were so bad all I could do was lie in my room in the dark, unable to move,” she said.
Her doctors advised her to try eliminating food groups, due to which over the course of two years she cut out dairy, chocolate, gluten, wheat and sugar; but nothing worked. She was tested for a brain tumour but the results came back clear. Despite the negative results, the bleeding continued and Harvey said she felt like her life was put on hold. She would struggle to open her eyes during the episodes as the blood caused them to sting. It forced her to give up a hairdressing course and retail job as she “couldn't go and bleed everywhere.” “I used to go out with my friends every day but I became too scared to leave the house now,” she said.
She has also had MRI scans, CT scans and multiple blood tests, but the only problem anomaly doctors can identify is that she has a low immune system. “That’s all we’ve got to go on for now,” Catherine Harvey, Marnie's mother said. “Specialists bring their students to have a look at me. One student suggested stigmata - the religious belief it’s the representation of the blood of Jesus. We’re not a religious family. We just want answers.”
