Shocking! Meet The Teenager Who Will Die If He Ever Falls Asleep [Video]

When Liam Derbyshire was born, doctors said he would not live for more than six weeks. In a few months he will turn 18.


It is estimated that in the world only 1,500 people have the same rare disease as the teenager .


Liam was born with Ondine's Curse, officially known as Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome, which causes respiratory arrest due to a patient's lungs not functioning when they are asleep .


The condition means the 17-year-old has to be plugged into a life support machine and watched by a carer every night to keep him alive.


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Doctors gave Liam just six weeks to live after birth, but later this year the young man from Gosport, South Hampshire, is turning 18 and has truly defied all odds.


Liam's parents, Peter and Kim, act as a major part of his caring team and monitor their son 24 hours a day with specialised GPS equipment.


Central Hypoventilation Syndrome basically implies that when you sleep, your phrenic nerve doesn't kick in so your brain doesn't tell you to breathe.


Liam's sleeping arrangements are the electric bed which has three positions - it can be up or down and the head and feet can be lifted independently in order to give him some quality sleep.




Liam also struggles with a bowel condition, something unrelated to Central Hyperventilation, which means he must eat substantially large portions of food throughout the day to keep his body functioning.


He finds it hard to understand how he suffers compared to those people around him and his mental state is not the same as a typical 17-year-old.


Liam has a large family with an older brother, two sisters, three half sisters and eight nieces and nephews, and he spends a lot of time socialising with them.


He also manages to attend a normal school where he gets on well with both staff and students.



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