If She Cries, She Dies

A rare condition means this toddler's tears are a virtual death sentence

Little Tianna Lewis McHugh is the girl who cannot cry. She has a rare condition that means her tears could trigger a fatal fit.
Her parents Ceri Lewis and Andy McHugh live on tenterhooks every day, making sure their precious two-year-old doesn't cry.

'It's like walking on eggshells,' says Andy, explaining how they try to prevent her tears.

Tianna suffers frightening reflex anoxic seizures that make her skin turn white, her body stiffen and her breathing stop. Terrifyingly, her heart stops beating.

'We have to deal with her firmly but in a polite manner,' Andy adds. 'We have to avoid tantrums. Water shocks her out of having a seizure so when she starts to cry we've sometimes chucked a cup of water in her face or bundled her into the shower.

'The water makes her jump, it shocks her and makes her inhale. When we go out we always carry a juice cup full of water in case she falls over.'

Ceri, 23, says she was hysterical when she witnessed her daughter's first fit.

'I picked her up out of her high chair, put her on the floor and she cried for seconds - then she looked like she'd died,' she recalls.

'She went a deathly grey, her lips were blue and her eyes rolled back. She stopped breathing and looked dead because she stiffened up and arched her back. I thought she'd died and I was hysterical.'

Andy tried desperately to resuscitate his little girl. 'After five or six blows she took a massive breath and came around, crying her eyes out,' he says.


Terrified, Tianna's parents took her to hospital, but doctors there were unable to diagnose her condition. A fortnight later a second seizure, her worst, left Tianna fighting for life. Doctors told her distraught parents that if she didn't come round in 10 minutes she could die or be brain damaged. Amazingly she pulled through and recovered after a few days in hospital. It was then doctors realised she'd had a reflex anoxic seizure.
Tianna endured her last fit a few months ago and Andy and Ceri now hope she may grow out of the condition. Until then, it's a battle. 'When she has fits, it's horrendous,' 30-year-old Andy says.

'Tianna's hyperactive, talkative, bubbly and very active. She's very well developed for her age. She can do whatever she wants but for 18 months we've been cautious with her so she doesn't get hurt or shocked and cry. She's our little angel.'

Wow I don't know what I would do.

Dang. That sucks. She's a cute kid, too (no pedophilia lolz).

...thats one frighteningly disturbing condition...

...thats one frighteningly disturbing condition...

Yeah. I hope that eventually goes away. A lifetime of no crying is damn near impossible. Let's hope, for the sake of this girl, that she's cured some miraculous way.

O.M.G. That has to be hard keeping her not to be sad..
Wonder when she's in high school or something...
Sad, only a miracle can help her. I think it would be impossible to not cry for the rest of your life...

Wow this really sucks. I hope they can cure it.

Dayum, no soap operas for this girl. Or tears of happiness either. Jesus.

I can see how this would be a problem. Imagine a situation in which something falls on her head, something that is heavy enough to actually hurt her. Or what if she tripped and her knee bled? She has no choice but to cry, it is normal for a child of that age to do so if they are in pain. The fact that she has this . . . illness or whatever makes it difficult since she doesn't realize that she cannot cry, or else she dies. This sucks so much for the poor little girl, because kids her age are susceptible to being injured more.

(no pedophilia lolz).

[COLOR="Red"]Bulls[B]hit.

That would suck...she can still be sad, she just has to find other ways of dealing with it without crying. [/COLOR][/B]

I can see how this would be a problem. Imagine a situation in which something falls on her head, something that is heavy enough to actually hurt her. Or what if she tripped and her knee bled? She has no choice but to cry, it is normal for a child of that age to do so if they are in pain. The fact that she has this . . . illness or whatever makes it difficult since she doesn't realize that she cannot cry, or else she dies. This sucks so much for the poor little girl, because kids her age are susceptible to being injured more.

Which is why they have a juice cup full of water with her at all times.
Hopefully, she can get through life fine, really tragic illness here.

Oh god, how tragic... I only hope its not permanent T^T

poor cute girl

Hate to be pessimistic and/or obvious but this girl is not gonna live long.

Wow, and I thought being allergic to water was bad...

Hate to be pessimistic and/or obvious but this girl is not gonna live long.

This. Eventually the water will not properly scare her and her lungs will continue to not expand and bring in oxygen. Sad, but it's the inevitable truth of the matter.

Seizures do stop sometimes when children reach adulthood, so she does have a good chance. That and I'm sure not every seizure would last over 10 minutes.

But that's so odd, I've never heard of crying causing these kinds of seizures, horrible x_X Wish I knew how that was caused.

Here's a case where it is life or death if she suffers a heartbreak. Good news is..

Reflex anoxic seizures probably occur in about 8 out of every 1000 preschool children. They are most common between the ages of six months and two years but they can also occur in teenagers and adults.

Although parents often say their child looks as if they have died during an attack, I have never heard of the condition causing death.

Often no treatment is required, but some studies have suggested that the drug atropine is effective in reducing the frequency of the attacks.

Thankfully, reflex anoxic seizures usually get less frequent and eventually stop during childhood. Occasionally the attacks persist into early adult life.

source: http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/ate/childrens...03326.html

Here's a case where it is life or death if she suffers a heartbreak. Good news is..



source: http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/ate/childrens...03326.html

Reading that made me happier.

Reading that made me happier.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_infa...h_syndrome

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_infa...h_syndrome

I'm going to still enjoy the happiness that gave me before I hear about more depressing things, like these:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_allergy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_allergy

Ugh and she's just a cute little patch of sunshine. I really hope she grows out of it!