A little-known condition, which leaves her prone to attacks of violent vomiting, makes life a misery for Zara Thatcher, 11, and her family. By Alex Peake - News Reporter
"Please be my sick daughter's friend.'' That is the heart-felt plea from Karen Thatcher this week as she battles to raise awareness of her young child's rare illness.
Against all the odds, plucky Zara Thatcher, lives as normal a life as possible, despite being one of only 63 children in Britain diagnosed with Cyclical Vomiting Syndrome. The incurable condition has left lonely Zara with a lack of confidence as she finds it increasingly difficult to fit in with other children her own age.
Mum Karen said: "It is miserable for her. It is hard for her to build friendships, although she does have one very good friend. A lot of kids don't like illness and one mother even came up to me and said 'can my child catch something off yours?' That hurts."
Zara spends her life constantly in fear of violent bouts of sickness which leave her in what is described as a 'waking coma'. Once the bouts are triggered Zara spends more than 50 per cent of her time between Queen Mary's Hospital, Carshalton, Surrey and her home in Sanderstead, South Croydon, Surrey.
Last summer she made the step from primary to secondary school and Karen has praised both schools for being supportive and understanding. But she said her daughter never finds coming to terms with the illness easy, no matter how much people go out of their way to offer support.
She said: "she often says 'way me , mum, why me, why am I always sick? It makes it hard for us to do things as a family. When we go on holiday, we have to inform the local hospital of her condition. And when she was meant to go on a school trip to the Isle of Wight, she was being taken to the hospital at 10 o'clock in the morning in tears, as the school coach was leaving."
Karen explained how it even effects everyday family outings as Zara is constantly worrying about being sick; it stops her fully enjoying trips to the theatre and nights out. Even when she went to see her favourite group, Steps, it was on her mind that she might be struck down by vomiting.
The little known condition was first discovered in 1882 but since then very little has been done in the way of research on it. Although the sufferer experiences healthy symptoms between episodes, when they occur vomiting and retching can happen as often as five or six times an hour. It is then followed by unrelenting nausea, extreme lethargy and no body control. There is, however, an association based in Dorset which organises fun days and other events for sufferers to meet up. At the last event, at Birmingham Children's Hospital, Zara made friends with another girl her age who suffers from the illness. But she lives in Hertfordshire.
Karen added: "We want to raise awareness of cyclical vomiting syndrome and raise money for research into it but, most of all, we would like to meet other people in the area who suffer from it. Not only for Zara's sake; it would be nice to get support from other parents, you can learn a lot from other people's experiences. It can be difficult talking to people because they do not know what you are going through."