NEW LEASE OF LIFE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 June 1941, Page 8

NEW LEASE OF LIFE

I OPERATION ON SYDNEY GIRL. 18 YEARS OF HUNGER. After starving slowly to death in the midst of plenty since she was a baby, an 18-year-old girl, after four weeks’ treatment at the Eastern Suburbs Hospital, has been given a new lease of life, says the "Sydney Sun.” When she entered hospital she weighed 6st. 71b. The first week site put on 51b. Now she weighs 7st. 811 b —an increase of 15Jlb. Since babyhood she has been suffering from a ; rare complaint-—in medical terms, “a spasm at the lower end of the oesophagus.” In plain language, the lowest muscle of the-food-pipe would not dilate to allow food to pass into the stomach. • The aperture was never large enough to pass a goose quill through it. Only enough food reached the stomach io keep her alive. Throughout her life the girl has been weak, lethargic and pitifully thin, her emaciated appearance being accentuated by her height—sft. lOin. Though the treatment is not original, it has been used only on rare occasions. Lubricated, a piece of tin. rubber tubing, containing about 11b. of mercury and sealed at both ends, is passed into the food-pipe and allowed to sink slowly, through its own weight, until it reaches the last muscle. There it is allowed to rest, and the muscle is gradually dilated. The rubber tube is then withdrawn and the girl is given a meal. For the first fortnight the operation, which, according to the girl, is uncomfortable but not painful, was carried out daily. Now it is performed every second day. Doctors hope to be able to increase the period between the treatment, and expect that before long it will be necessary only once a fortnight. “An ideal patient, with magnificent courage, this girl has a new outlook on life,” said one of her doctors. “Before long she wil be healthy and strong and able to enjoy a normal existence.”

"I can walk around the hospital now without feeling tired,” said the patient. "Soon I'll be going for a walk in the park.”