​Dehiaththakandiya girl who eats only beef for all three meals ... gets sick if she eats anything else!

​Dehiaththakandiya girl who eats only beef for all three meals ...

gets sick if she eats anything else!

It is reported of a nine year old girl from Dehiaththakandiya, Paragaswewa hamlet who lives only on beef for all three meals for five and a half years because of a sick condition. 

This girl, Araliya Muthu Pabalu who showed abnormal signs of sickness from birth was unable to absorb any food and her mother, Mrs. D.P. Wijelatha Wijeysingha reveals what she has to say about this situation in this manner: "This child was born in 2008. At the time the child was born she weighed three and a half kilos. She was well breast fed. When she was breast fed, her stomach began

to bloat. She failed to go to the toilet, unlike other children and her stools were just water. That condition was there for about a month. After that I took the child to Polonnaruwa hospital. There they kept her back in the ward. Though the child was subjected to various kinds of treatment, there no satisfactory change in her. On the advice of doctors she was admitted to  Colombo Lady Ridgeway Hospital. All types of food was given to her there. But there was no positive result as such. Later the child was continuously fed on green apples and 'aanamaalu' plantains. Apart from that she was given Jeewani. I was keeping my child in hospital for four and a half years.

By that time she could not walk ... could not get up. The abdomen had puffed up. We gave many types of food. But nothing came right. The moment any food was given, she would vomit. Would go to the toilet at that very moment. All food eaten would be eliminated, without being digested. One day I happened to give her a piece of cooked beef as a matter of fact as such. It was not willingly that I did so. We are Buddhists and we were not used to bringing beef to our house any day. But when she ate beef of course, nothing nothing adverse happened to her. So later on we began to continue giving her beef. When we started doing so, her sickness began to diminish. 

Actually this child who could not get up, then began to slowly get up.  

Now the child is nine years old. From the age of four and a half years she had been fed on beef for all her three meals. When there was no money to buy her beef, we gave her chicken. But when chicken was given ... it didn't come right like in the case of beef. If anything else is given ... she became pale ... would faint. 

The child is now attending school. At first glance she doesn't seem to be a sick child. She does her school work well. On some occasions she would get sick while in school. At such times I would go to school and accompany her back home. I can't even think of the suffering I went through within the past nine years for this child. Whenever we ran short of finances to treat the child, we fell into a really helpless state. We borrowed money. Ultimately we had to mortgage the only paddy field we had to rely on in our lives. 

Though our child is alright by now, she has been subjected to various sicknesses because of depending only on beef. At the moment she is suffering from diabetes and stones in the kidneys. She has to be treated for all that. I have two grown up sons. Now they earn and give money on behalf of nangi. Our daughter consumes one and a half kilos of beef per day. 

Dr. Peduruaarachchi of Pediatric Unit of Dehiaththakandiya Basic Hospital explained about this sickness in the following manner: "In this very rare sickness known as Glucose-Galactose Malabsorption, the person shows a repulsion to absorb any type of food containing glucose or galactose. It is considered that less than 200 patients of this type are living in the world today. All food containing starch (carbohydrate), fruits and vegetables which we use as food in our day-to-day life are eliminated as glucose. All milk foods are absorbed by our body as galactose as a final result of digestion. An enzyme which is necessary to absorb into the body during the elimination process of both these compositions while within the bowels (small intestine) becoming inactivated can be explained as the reason for this sickness. While this condition is connected to the genes, no specific treatment has been found so far other than taking both the above-mentioned nutrients. Whatever it is, because of the potential nutrient composition of beef, this patient can use beef only so that no sign of sickness could be seen. If we are to say in short ... in order to keep this child alive, the only food that can be given is beef".