A DAD with a paralysed stomach is in need of a life-changing operation costing £17,000.

Matthew Pascoe first started showing signs of a rare condition two years ago.

He was vomiting every day and was unable to digest food, he was in constant pain and was losing weight rapidly.

The 26-year-old had various GP and hospital appointments to try to find the cause but no-one was able to diagnose him.

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With Matthew being a Type 1 diabetic, the pain was put down to his diabetes.

Matthew’s fiancee, Amy Rushworth, said he has been in and out of hospital since and was seen by a gastric consultant in April last year.

He was diagnosed with Gastroparesis - a paralysed stomach.

It is where the stomach cannot empty itself of food in a normal way.

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Amy, 25, who lives near Highwoods, Colchester, said: “We knew it wasn’t his diabetes causing it so we were persistent and went to hospital every time he had a flare up.

“Then Matt collapsed in my living room in February last year - his appendix was 24 hours away from rupturing. He had to have his appendix taken out.”

Matt was recommended a gastric stimulator to help his food artificially move through his stomach into his small bowel, by electrically stimulating his digestive system.

But as the operation to fit the stimulator is not funded by NHS England, the family has had no luck.

They researched Gastroparesis and found one of only two specialist surgeons based in the UK.

They made an appointment with one specialist and were told on Monday the gastric stimulator was his only hope.

Amy said: “The diagnosis was a weight off our shoulders but we had to wait until Monday to find out he needed this operation, and the NHS doesn’t fund it.

“There needs to be more awareness raised, as even doctors don’t know about it. Matt’s is a complex case.”

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He used to work as a deputy manager but is now bedbound and malnourished, having lost 24 per cent of his body weight.

Amy dreams of raising the £17,000 needed for the operation. Matthew would be able to have it at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford.

Amy said it would be life-changing for him and son Jayden, seven.

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She said : “He has lost everything. He can’t even walk to the shop which is ten minutes away.

“We just need to get Matt back to being himself. It means he could eat with his family and he wouldn’t be sick every day.”

Visit www.gofundme.com/ehws5u-life-changing-surgery.