Little boy who hasn't eaten anything in FOUR years

A little boy has become so frightened of food and drink he hasn't eaten anything for four years.

Daniel Harrison's problem began when he suffered a severe case of acid reflux as a baby.

Because the four-year-old also suffers from autism, the memory of that painful time has stopped him from eating anything solid since.

Daniel's phobia means the only way he can get nutrition is through a tube in his stomach.

His parents, Kevin and Catherine, regularly shell out for costly trips to London's world famous Great Ormond Street Hospital from their home in Carlton, Nottingham, in a bid to find a solution.

But experts have found no way to help Daniel.

Now, in what father Kevin describes as his 'only hope', the family are determined to raise the £20,000 needed to fund a trip to a unique clinic in Austria which might be able to solve Daniel's difficult case.

Daniel has had numerous medical procedures and operations to try and correct his condition medically but with no success.

And in November 2009 he bravely fought off swine flu which developed into pneumonia and a collapsed lung.

Boots manager Kevin, 41, said his dream was to see his boy eat like any other little boy and that it would mean everything to the family.

He said: 'As a dad sitting with my boy at a table with all his feeding tubes and machines I know what it feels like to have people looking at him.

'Catherine and I worry about what would happen if something happened to us, we want Daniel to be able to eat and feed himself.

'The strain on Hannah is enormous also, to see your brother starving himself would be traumatic at any age, but she has been wonderful and is a credit to her brother

'There is nothing medically stopping our son from eating, it is in his mind, but there has been nobody yet that has managed to help him overcome that.

'The doctors at Great Ormond Street have been great, but even they don't know what to do with Daniel.

'Our only chance is to take him to University Hospital in Graz, Austria, as they are the only people who say they have treated a condition like Daniel's successfully.

'The problem is Daniel's case is so rare, even in Graz they have only seen and cured 12 youngsters and that is over 22 years.'

Using a technique not practiced in the UK the Austrian model uses a variety of in-house techniques to make a youngster realise they need and want food.

But for Kevin and his house letting manager wife Catherine, 37, their goal of helping their son is still far away as they have been told they will get no NHS help to send him abroad.

Kevin added: 'Daniel is a great little boy and his autism can be managed, but how is he meant to function in adulthood without being able to eat.

'Our local Public Health Trust (PCT) have refused to offer us any funding and even for things like help with travel costs we have been told we can't get help because we are working.

'Both Catherine and I have to take time off to take Daniel for treatment and we simply can't afford the huge cost it would take to get him to the clinic.

'There is a practical side to Daniel's condition as well, any outing is difficult to organise as we have to take lots of equipment. Our last holiday took six months to organise.

'It is also not fair for Daniel because taking his food through a tube means he has to sit still so we have to strap him down. If he could eat things would be different.'

World's smallest woman overjoyed at title by Guinness Book of Records

A woman who weighs little more than a new-born baby spoke of her joy today after being certified as the world's smallest woman.

Hatice Kocaman, just 28in tall, said she overcame bullying to become globally famous for her size.

Speaking at her home in Kadirli, Turkey, sahe said: 'I always hoped that one day the world would recognise me.

'It was hard when I was a child because all my classmates used to tease me for being small.

'But now I am famous because of my size. So it makes me feel like I am much taller.'

'I hope to travel and to meet lots of people including the tallest man in the world.

'God made me the way I am and I am proud of that. I hope I can find someone who will love me one day.'

The 21-year-old, who suffers from dwarfism, lives with her parents Ibrahim and Hatun and was also recently certified as the second-smallest adult human alive by the Guiness Book of Records.

The only adult she is taller than is Nepalese man Khagendra Thapa Magar who at 25.8 inches is the world's smallest person.

'There were no problems in my pregnancy with her and I gave birth naturally,' said her mother Hatun.

'She weighed 3lbs 10oz when she was born and was a normal baby. We never noticed any problems until she was one.

'Then we noticed she seemed to be growing more slowly than other babies.'

Ibrahim and Hatun, who also have a normal-sized son, took her for tests but doctors could not tell them what was wrong with Hatice.

Hatice continued to develop into a little girl and learned to walk and talk, but she hardly grew at all.

'She seemed to always stay the same size,' said Hatun.

'By the time she was four it looked like she had stopped growing.

'We asked the doctors to help, but they couldn't tell us what the problem was.

'We hoped she might start growing later on, but she never did.

'By the time she was ten, we realised she would always be this way.'

The parents said Hatice went for general medical checks every few years, where she was weighed and measured.

Finally they were told her condition may be due to a bone disorder caused by faulty genes carried by both parents.

The family live in a tiny home in a poor and remote area of the country.

They do not have a car and could not afford to travel to seek help for their daughter.

Hatice suffers from hip dysplasia and has a back problem, but has never received treatment for this.

Surgeons in the region are not skilled enough to operate on Hatice because of her size.

Hatice, who weighs just 15lbs, went to a special school but has never been able to find work.

Now she stays at home with her parents and likes to help her mum doing small jobs.

Hatice has always dreamed of becoming famous and news about her tiny size began to spread as she got older.

Finally an investigator for the Guinness Book of Records visited the area to see the family.

Hatice and her mum were invited to Istanbul where she was finally named the world's smallest woman.

Hatice says: 'I can carry little things and clean a little.

'I am happy living with my family. But I would like to be stronger, so I can do more things for myself.'

World’s fattest woman is warned after hitting FIFTY STONE

A woman believed to be the world's fattest at 50 stone (700lbs) is facing a battle to shed weight after being told by doctors she could die.

Terri Smith is confined to her bedroom in her Ohio home unable to move, stand or roll over by herself.

Suffering from severe headaches which doctors fear could stem from a brain problem, Terri urgently needs a brain scan - but is too big to fit inside an MRI machine.

To undergo the scan and receive the life-saving treatment she may require, Terri is now embarking on a weight loss regime of exercise and healthy eating.

She relies on her husband Myron, 44, and oldest daughter Najah, 30, to do everything for her.

The 49-year-old must be washed, fed and dressed on the bed and wears nappies which her daughter and husband change.

'My husband is my guardian angel,' said Terri.

'He's stuck by me through everything. Most men would have left a long time ago and who could blame them but Myron is a living saint.'

Terri was always large - at age seven she weighed almost eight stone (112lbs).

'My nickname at school was fatso,' she said. 'No one wanted me on their sports team and that didn't help the fat.

'We grew up on soul food and no one thought anything about it.

'That's just what people did where I'm from. We never watched what we ate at all and we didn't know what was healthy and what wasn't.'

By the age of 20 Terri weighed 18 stone (252lbs) but she remained active and held a job as a mental health care worker for 20 years.

'I used to help people wash, feed and dress themselves,' she said.

'Back then I never thought that the tables would turn and someone would be doing all that stuff for me.'

After marrying her husband in 1986 Terri was big but happy.

'I prayed for a man like Myron and he came to me,' she said  'He's kind, gentle and he loves me for who I am. Even now he tells me I'm pretty, that man is amazing.'

But she continued to eat the same diet and kept on growing, while her husband and daughter stayed slim.

Terri, who suffers severe headaches, needs an MRI scan to check for a potential brain tumour but is too big to fit in any scanners or into the doors of a hospital clinic.

She faces a race against time to lose weight in a bid to qualify for gastric surgery to save her life.

When Terri was 32 she developed severe arthritis in her knees and couldn't walk for more than a few steps.

She was given an electric wheelchair and the lack of exercise made the weight pile on.

'I used to walk everywhere and be on my feet at work but suddenly I was trapped,' she said.

As the years passed her weight ballooned until she could hardly stand.

Then, after her doctor changed her diuretic medication, she gained a staggering 6.5 stone (91lb) in 30 days. She suddenly found herself bedbound and has been trapped for almost three years.

Dr. Dariush Saghafi said: "I have been seeing Terri for six months.

'Caring for someone of Terri's size is very difficult. It is very hard to move and transport her. Hospitals do not have equipment to hold someone of her girth.

'Terri needs an MRI but there are no machines in the region big enough to take her weight.

'We thought that it might be possible for Terri to have an MRI at the Cleveland Zoo in the machine used for the elephants and rhinos but the zoo does not have a  licence for humans.

'We're hoping the Cleveland clinic can find an MRI for Terri.'

Couple spends 35 years filling their home with 6,788 cans

It is the dream of millions of men to live in a house filled to the brim with beer cans.

For Nick West, that dream is a reality, even if all the tins are empty.

The Lloyds Bank worker, 51, has a collection of 6,788 British beer cans in his home in Clevedon, North Somerset.

He even forked out £1,240 for one of the first cans produced in Britain, a half-pint of Felinfoel pale ale from a brewery in South Wales.

His obsession stems back to Christmas 1975 when his future wife Deborah bought him a book about collecting beer cans when they were both 16.

Mr West said: 'Deborah sort of encouraged me and has regretted it ever since. She wasn't very happy when we had to move house to find somewhere bigger for the collection.

'She said that if we had stayed where we were, we would have paid off the mortgage by now.'

The West family's last home had to have an extension built to house the ever-growing collection. Their latest, in Clevedon, is a five-bedroom Victorian property.

There are no prizes for guessing that the largest bedroom has gone not to Mr and Mrs West, nor to either of their children, Emma, 23, and Tom, 21, but to beer cans that are stacked from floor to ceiling.

Mr West does, however, drink the beer in the cans - although it is not simply a case of tugging off the ring pull and drinking the contents before placing the can in his collection.

He said: 'You pierce the bottom with two holes, drain out the contents, drink them if you wish, then photograph the can for your records and find it the right place on the shelves.

'Cans with widgets are a nightmare because they tend to spray their contents all over the ceiling, which isn't good.'

He began his collection with a small grey can of Heineken - brought home by his parents - and has since attempted to obtain an example of every sort of canned beer ever produced in Britain, including special offers and commemorative promotions, by scouring eBay and the internet.