Girl rushed to N&N due to hairball found in her stomach

And a mum whose nine-year-old daughter was rushed to hospital suffering from the condition wants more people to be aware it exists.

Megan Sayce first heard about Rapunzel syndrome when she took her little girl, Sophia, who was screaming in pain to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

There she found out that her daughter had the disorder, also known as trichobezoar, a rare intestinal condition resulting from eating hair.

Sophia began pulling out her hair when she was 18 months old (Image: Megan Sayce)

Doctors discovered Sophia had a hairball “eating through her stomach” which they managed to remove through surgery.

Despite happening in December Megan 32, said the issues started when Sophia was about 18 months old.

She said: "Sophia would pull out her hair and eat it, as a comforting thing, to get to sleep.

"Then when she was four years old she was very ill and threw up a hairball.

"On both occasions we took her to a doctor but they didn't really know what could stop it.

"She eventually got better, wasn't eating her hair and it was growing out nicely, so we didn't think much of it.

Sophia spent 10 days at the N&N after being rushed there with stomach pains (Image: Megan Sayce)

"Then on December 12 last year I woke up and heard her crying - she said she felt like she was going to die, was throwing up and passed out.

"I've never heard her scream in such pain so we called 111 and rushed her to the N&N.

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"It turned out she had a hairball the size of her belly, which was causing ulcers and creating a hole in her stomach."

The family want to raise awareness about Rapunzel syndrome (Image: Megan Sayce)

After the four-and-a-half hour surgery Sophie spent 10 days at the N&N and is now recovered.

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However the scare has the family from Lenwade wanting to raise awareness of how such an innocuous act could be life-threatening.

Megan added: "There isn't much help or knowledge about Rapunzel syndrome because the act, which causes it, seems quite harmless.

"But we got lucky with Sophia - if we hadn't taken her to hospital she would've got sepsis and then who knows what might have happened."

The hairball was causing ulcers and creating a hole in Sophia's stomach (Image: Megan Sayce)

WHAT IS RAPUNZEL SYNDROME?

Named after the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Rapunzel syndrome is an extremely rare medical condition where airs a person has eaten becomes tangled and trapped in their stomach.

This causes a hairball to form, which has a long tail extending into the small intestine.

The main symptoms include abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, bloated stomach, reduced appetite, weight loss and constipation or diarrhoea.

Surgery can remove the hairball and most suffers make a full recovery. However death has occurred in a small number of cases.