Hannah Ritchie, of Vermillion, Ohio, shares her difficult story through her vlog.
This 20-year-old hasn’t had a meal in six months.
Hannah Ritchie, of Vermillion, Ohio, has a chronic condition that makes her sick when she eats.
"I miss everything,” she told SWNS. “Pizza, steak, pasta, bread, cookies. Everything,"
Ritchie has gastroparesis, a chronic digestive condition that causes her stomach muscles to be paralyzed.
“At my worst point I was throwing up six times a day,” Ritchie said. “I was going to the bathroom about 30 times every day when I was 16. My life was miserable and I was really sick.”
Everything from ice pops to pudding caused her to throw up, no matter how hungry she was, Ritchie said.
She was formally diagnosed in February and was fitted with a naseojejunal tube, a feeding tube passed through her nose into her small bowel, as her digestion got poorer.
Eventually, even that stopped working and she had jejunostomy surgery in July, which attached a tube to her stomach. While eating was difficult before the surgery, it is no longer possible with the feeding bag.
“It's literally the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life,” Ritchie said. “I wake up to go to work every morning and I’m like, 'I can't do this anymore. I’m just going to quit. I don't feel good.'"
Ritchie continues to undergo health complications as a result of her condition, but keeps her head up by sharing her story on her YouTube page.
When she isn’t in pain or discussing her condition, Ritchie also vlogs about beauty and travel.
Ritchie is also a college student, taking online courses toward her journalism major.
"I wish I could just get up and go to university like a normal person but I just can’t,” she said. “Sometimes it feels very unfair. But at the same time, I can't let it control my life.”
While there is no cure for gastropareisis, Ritchie said she tries not to let her condition slow her down and continues to try to live her life to the fullest.
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