A mother has not eaten a meal for seven years due to a rare condition which left her stomach paralysed.
Nicola Nichols, 25, from Bolton, was struck down by a 'mild case of man flu' in 2008.
She has not been able to keep any food or drink down since and vomited up to 50 times every day.
Initially doctors believed she had an eating disorder, before finally diagnosing her with gastroparesis.
This is a condition in which the stomach muscles are paralysed, meaning food is not emptied properly.
She is kept alive by a food and glucose bags that feeds directly into her blood stream, and a glucose bag that provides her with energy.
She unable to eat anything at her wedding to IT worker Ben, 27, and has been told she will never eat again.
Mrs Nichols said: 'I can't really stress just how mild this flu was - I called it man flu.
'My mum had flu at the same time but mine was only slightly different.
'But once I started vomiting, it is crippling pain and I haven't really stopped vomiting since.
'We always say that you take eating and drinking for granted until you can't do it.
'I still cook the kid's teas and it smells and looks great but if I even had a bite then I'd be in crippling pain.'
The mother-of-two 'miracle' children was forced to jack in her new admin job after just three months to battle the debilitating illness.
Her weight plummeted from nine stone to just seven and her attempts to regain weight by eating food caused her to regurgitate anything she consumed.
The condition meant at her wedding she could only look on as guests lapped up a feast of duck, beef and a rich chocolate cake for dessert.
Mrs Nichols said: 'Imagine being sat at the top table at your wedding watching everyone tuck in to the wedding cake that you made and you can't have any.
'It was the same with the wedding breakfast and I just had to hold the glass of champagne for the toast, I couldn't even have a sip.
'Of course, it was a magical day but it was so difficult.'
Mrs Nichols' problems began when she was 18. Her stomach stopped working after a bout of flu two years earlier, leaving her unable to keep any food or liquid down.
She would vomit up to 50 times a day, but doctors suspected she had an eating disorder.
Finally, in 2008 Mrs Nichols was diagnosed with gastroparesis, a condition in which there is a problem with nerves or stomach muscles, meaning it does not empty itself of food properly.
It is caused by damage to the vagus nerve, which regulates the digestive system.
When this nerve is damaged, the muscles in the stomach and intestines stop working, preventing food from moving through the digestive system properly.
It is usually cause by diabetes, Parkinson's or as a complication of surgery, but sometimes there is no clear cause and sufferers report they after coming down with flu, a virus, food poisoning or after taking antibiotics.
Mrs Nichols was fitted with a gastro pacemaker, a metal device fitted in the abdomen to transmit electrical signals to the stomach muscles to get them working again.
But the emergency measure failed and she suffered intestinal failure, where her bowel could not digest the foods and absorb the fluids necessary for her to live.
She has to be fed directly into her bloodstream with total parenteral nutrition (TPN) - a specially made three-litre bag and pump that gives her nutrients for 12 hours every night.
She has a food bag two days a week and a glucose bag five days a week, which both have to be stored between two and eight degrees.
Mrs Nichols said: 'It has a real impact on your life because you can't make any last-minute decisions - everything has to be planned months in advance'
'You have to have the bag delivered there, the bag has to be stored in a fridge between two and eight degrees, everything has to be deep cleaned - sometimes it just really isn't worth it.'
'It's funny because it really restricts your life but, obviously, I wouldn't be here without it so it gives me life too.'
She said: 'A side effect of the TPN is that your hair can get very thin and fall out.The illness has left Mrs Nichols wheelchair-bound and she has had to watch her hair fall out, something she has found very difficult.
'My hair came out in clumps and I lost the majority of it and poor William said it scared him, which broke my heart, so Ben chopped off all my long hair.
'It's awful for a woman to have to go through that - but after he did mine, he shaved his hair off too in support.
'He joked and said he didn't want me to wake up the next day and be the only baldie in the family.'
And she was consigned to hospital for three months after becoming seriously ill with sepsis in September last year.
Despite the chronic illness, she has managed to give birth to son William, three, and 11-month-old daughter Felicity.
The two children were both born healthy despite their mother being unable to eat for two.
Mrs Nichols said: 'I call them my two miracle babies - William was fed off my old tube and Felicity was fed by TPN.
'William knows it's different and will always say as soon as we meet anyway "my mummy is fed by a tube", which really breaks the ice.
'Felicity is just coming up to the age where she keeps grabbing the tube and that's not too helpful.'
She adds that she feels 'luckier than most' because she was able to have children, and receives support from her family and from William's school.
She said: 'We always say that someone else is always worse off. I'm lucky that I have two beautiful children despite my problem. My two miracles.
'William's school is great. I have only managed to do one school run since he started in September because I was too poorly and couldn't go in.
'But the staff at the nursery have been fantastic - they take photocopies of the work he does in the day and photos of him in class and they send them to me so I can keep up with what he gets up to, so even though I am not always with it, I have snippets in my mind.
‘On days I feel like I can't take it anymore, seeing his face lit up is all I need to keep going.'
She has not been able to keep any food or drink down since and vomited up to 50 times every day.
Initially doctors believed she had an eating disorder, before finally diagnosing her with gastroparesis.
This is a condition in which the stomach muscles are paralysed, meaning food is not emptied properly.
She is kept alive by a food and glucose bags that feeds directly into her blood stream, and a glucose bag that provides her with energy.
She unable to eat anything at her wedding to IT worker Ben, 27, and has been told she will never eat again.
Mrs Nichols said: 'I can't really stress just how mild this flu was - I called it man flu.
'My mum had flu at the same time but mine was only slightly different.
'But once I started vomiting, it is crippling pain and I haven't really stopped vomiting since.
'We always say that you take eating and drinking for granted until you can't do it.
'I still cook the kid's teas and it smells and looks great but if I even had a bite then I'd be in crippling pain.'
The mother-of-two 'miracle' children was forced to jack in her new admin job after just three months to battle the debilitating illness.
Her weight plummeted from nine stone to just seven and her attempts to regain weight by eating food caused her to regurgitate anything she consumed.
The condition meant at her wedding she could only look on as guests lapped up a feast of duck, beef and a rich chocolate cake for dessert.
Mrs Nichols said: 'Imagine being sat at the top table at your wedding watching everyone tuck in to the wedding cake that you made and you can't have any.
'It was the same with the wedding breakfast and I just had to hold the glass of champagne for the toast, I couldn't even have a sip.
'Of course, it was a magical day but it was so difficult.'
Mrs Nichols' problems began when she was 18. Her stomach stopped working after a bout of flu two years earlier, leaving her unable to keep any food or liquid down.
She would vomit up to 50 times a day, but doctors suspected she had an eating disorder.
Finally, in 2008 Mrs Nichols was diagnosed with gastroparesis, a condition in which there is a problem with nerves or stomach muscles, meaning it does not empty itself of food properly.
It is caused by damage to the vagus nerve, which regulates the digestive system.
When this nerve is damaged, the muscles in the stomach and intestines stop working, preventing food from moving through the digestive system properly.
It is usually cause by diabetes, Parkinson's or as a complication of surgery, but sometimes there is no clear cause and sufferers report they after coming down with flu, a virus, food poisoning or after taking antibiotics.
Mrs Nichols was fitted with a gastro pacemaker, a metal device fitted in the abdomen to transmit electrical signals to the stomach muscles to get them working again.
But the emergency measure failed and she suffered intestinal failure, where her bowel could not digest the foods and absorb the fluids necessary for her to live.
She has to be fed directly into her bloodstream with total parenteral nutrition (TPN) - a specially made three-litre bag and pump that gives her nutrients for 12 hours every night.
She has a food bag two days a week and a glucose bag five days a week, which both have to be stored between two and eight degrees.
Mrs Nichols said: 'It has a real impact on your life because you can't make any last-minute decisions - everything has to be planned months in advance'
'You have to have the bag delivered there, the bag has to be stored in a fridge between two and eight degrees, everything has to be deep cleaned - sometimes it just really isn't worth it.'
'It's funny because it really restricts your life but, obviously, I wouldn't be here without it so it gives me life too.'
She said: 'A side effect of the TPN is that your hair can get very thin and fall out.The illness has left Mrs Nichols wheelchair-bound and she has had to watch her hair fall out, something she has found very difficult.
'My hair came out in clumps and I lost the majority of it and poor William said it scared him, which broke my heart, so Ben chopped off all my long hair.
'It's awful for a woman to have to go through that - but after he did mine, he shaved his hair off too in support.
'He joked and said he didn't want me to wake up the next day and be the only baldie in the family.'
And she was consigned to hospital for three months after becoming seriously ill with sepsis in September last year.
Despite the chronic illness, she has managed to give birth to son William, three, and 11-month-old daughter Felicity.
The two children were both born healthy despite their mother being unable to eat for two.
Mrs Nichols said: 'I call them my two miracle babies - William was fed off my old tube and Felicity was fed by TPN.
'William knows it's different and will always say as soon as we meet anyway "my mummy is fed by a tube", which really breaks the ice.
'Felicity is just coming up to the age where she keeps grabbing the tube and that's not too helpful.'
She adds that she feels 'luckier than most' because she was able to have children, and receives support from her family and from William's school.
She said: 'We always say that someone else is always worse off. I'm lucky that I have two beautiful children despite my problem. My two miracles.
'William's school is great. I have only managed to do one school run since he started in September because I was too poorly and couldn't go in.
'But the staff at the nursery have been fantastic - they take photocopies of the work he does in the day and photos of him in class and they send them to me so I can keep up with what he gets up to, so even though I am not always with it, I have snippets in my mind.
‘On days I feel like I can't take it anymore, seeing his face lit up is all I need to keep going.'
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