A young girl from Surrey is so scared of Christmas dinner that she will be spending the festive day without food. Nineteen-year-old Macy Williams suffers from a rare condition called ARFID, which makes her have a phobia of certain foods. According to her family, until she was 17, Macy only ate cucumbers, blended porridge, and plant-based custard.
However, during the Christmas festivities, she would allow herself only a small portion of stuffing and gravy while her family tucked into a traditional dinner in another room. Since last summer, Macy has been fed purely by tube, and she spent last Christmas Day in the hospital. "Nobody would choose to live like this, away from their family and away from normal life.
At Christmas, my family will come to visit me, but there will be no chocolates, no prosecco, no Christmas fayre. When my family eats, I just go into a different room. I can’t bear it," Macy told The Mirror.
Macy was diagnosed with ARFID as a baby According to her mother, Macy's problems began when she was just a baby. "When she was weaned, she would vomit the baby food back. She only ate yogurt and puddings, but I thought it was a phase.
Instead, it got worse. She would only eat certain foods, and she couldn’t have them all on the same plate. She only ate specific brands too; if I tried a cheaper brand, she would know immediately.
Her food had to be prepared separately and stored in a different cupboard,” said Terri, a mother of five. When she was ten years old, Ma.