“A teenager suffering from a rare illness is being fed through her heart to keep her alive. Amy Knowles, 17, cannot digest food so a tube has been inserted and she spends 12 hours a day having liquid nutrients sent to her blood stream. She has not eaten normally for six months and doctors diagnosed a rare intestinal condition with no known cure. Each time she is fed through the tube, she stands a risk of killer complications such as line infection, septicaemia and liver failure. Her courage and determination has even touched the hearts of celebrities like The Voice star Jessie J, who visited her at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital. The tube has been surgically placed into her heart through an incision close to her armpit and is supplied from a bag containing nutrients. Amy has a backpack to carry it when she goes out and she said: ‘My friends joke that I look like Dora the Explorer with my backpack.” w/ photos
