A grandmother has become the first Briton to be diagnosed with an ultra-rare disease after she threw up seven pints of vomit looking like black COFFEE GRAINS.
Mary McIntosh, 79, is the first person to suffer from ischmeic oesophagus on English shores after top medical experts were dumbfounded by her rare symptoms.
Initially doctors believed Mary had suffered a suspected heart attack when she began to get chest pains during a GP visit.
She was quickly taken to hospital where she spewed out “coffee ground vomitis” – a name given to the colouring of the liquid.
Doctors were so cautious due to little known facts about the disease, described as a rare infection of the oesophagus, Mary was null by mouth for a week.
The ailment itself is so rare it has only affected 131 people across the globe in the last 50 years.
Mary, of Oldham, Grt Mancs., said: “They had no idea because they have never come across it.
“I think it is just something that happens and they don’t know why, at first I just thought I was having heart burn from something I ate.
“It was funny because the doctors kept taking pictures of my sick and going through it because they’d never seen anything like it before.
“It seems to be much better now and I can eat a bit – the doctors are hoping that it the illness is completely gone.
“I’m glad to be home now so that I can build up my strength. was glad to be able to walk, I’ve been walking around my living room and building my strength up.”
Mary’s hell began when she visited her local GP surgery for routine blood tests on May 2.
But the widower started getting chest pains and was rushed to hospital with a suspected heart attack.
Mum-of-three Mary, a retired factory worker, was sent to Royal Oldham Hospital where examinations of her oesophagus proved she had the condition.
She was informed by medics she was the first person in England to have it and was only the 132nd person globally to have had it in the past 50 years.
Doctors then set about trying to contact people from around the world to find out more about the condition.
Fortunately, after 10 days Mary’s status improved and she was deemed well enough to go home and with the help of her three daughters.
Her eldest daughter Carol Coyle, 57, a nurse who lives in Sydney, Australia, had flown back to England to care for her mother while she rested after surviving the illness.
Carol said: “Mum is a true fighter and she would have overcome anything, but with this illness though she was very lucky to get out the other side.
“She would do anything for me and my two other sisters, she worked lots of jobs before she retired.
“She always says ‘as long as my beautiful girls are ok then I’m fine’ – and never asks us for anything – she’s a very stubborn proud lady.”
Carol admitted she was alarmed when doctors wouldn’t tell her what her mum’s problem was.
She said: “I said to them what is it and they said ‘we can’t answer that’ – which was quite frightening really.
“I asked what happens next and the doctor looked at me and said they have contacted people around the world to find out – she is special.”
Asked what could have caused the disease in her mum, Carol replied: “They have no idea what causes it or really how to treat it.
“Being a nurse myself, I spoke to a doctor at the hospital where I work in New South Wales and he told me when it comes down the treatment of it – it’s all trial and error because it is so rare.”
Mary’s case is now also being used as a case study for a medical journal in Germany.