Watch Woman Who Lives With A Feeding Tube Speak Out About Her Condition!
[rumble video_id=v3r4rf domain_id=u7nb2]
A woman who lives with a feeding tube without a break has spoken out about her life and revealed how strangers often approach her and accuse her of having eating disorders without understanding her condition.
As 22-year-old Amy Lee Fisher admitted, she’s not willing to let gastroparesis, a serious condition that results in pain, sickness, or seizures when a person eats, dictate her life.
Nevertheless, the young woman often finds herself confronted by total strangers who approach her only to mock her or ask inappropriate questions.
“I feel like if there was somebody in a wheelchair with no arms and no legs like you wouldn’t walk up to them and go: ‘why are you in that chair?’ So I feel like why do people feel the need to come up to me and assume that I am anorexic or have any eating disorder or some type of cancer?” Amy said in an interview with Barcroft TV.
“The amount of people that come up to me and say things like that, I feel like there needs to be more awareness for feeding tubes and the reasons why people have them – it’s not just eating disorders.”
As Amy went on to explain, eating leaves her nauseous which is why she has to avoid it at all costs, meaning that she has to be attached to her feeding tube 24/7.
“I feel very, very, very sick. Sometimes it’s so crippling, I just have to lie there. The vomiting comes hours after eating. But in between the point of consuming the food and being sick, I have extreme pain, like crippling pain, crippling nausea, bloating to the point where you look pregnant,” she added.
“What foods do I miss the most? Everything, literally everything. At the start, it was more junk food but I just miss like a home-cooked meal. You know like meat, vegetables, gravy, like a Sunday roast.”
Unable to live a normal life and work, the 22-year-old decided to become a vlogger and educate people about living a life dependent on a feeding tube.
“I get hundreds of comments from people saying: ‘you have inspired me’ but I think they don’t realize that they are like my family. Every day I wake up and I go to YouTube – it’s my first good thing before anything else and I read these comments and it just lifts my spirits and it keeps me in a good place,” Amy shared.
Speaking of her daily struggles, the brave woman added:
“My feeding tube stays in 24/7. I can’t take it out because it is one hell of a hassle to try and get it back in.
“I get a lot of stares from the public. You would be surprised how many people say little comments or point.
“I have to understand that when you do see someone that is different you do look or you might give them a second glance.”
In spite of everything, however, Amy remains determined to enjoy the miracle of life.
“A lot of people think that you can’t do things with the feeding tube – that you can’t swim, you can’t shower. But that is not the case. You can do everything, everyone else can do. There’s nothing you can’t do with the feeding tube,” she expressed.
“I eat and drink by mouth most days because I don’t want my stomach to just pack up and stop working completely. I want it to keep trying.”
What are your thoughts on this story? Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to SHARE this post with your friends and family and follow us on Facebook for more news and stories!