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A 22-year-old woman from Stockport in northwest England has been dubbed as the real-life Sleeping Beauty due to a medical condition that forces her to wake up from sleeping months at a time.
Beth Goodier was only 16 years old when she first went into a deep slumber and could not be awakened by her parents for six months.
The young lady would usually keep her eyes closed for 22 hours a day, and remained in a a dream-like trance for a couple of hours, according to a Metro.co.uk report.
Her mother feared that a brain tumor or haemorrhage might have been causing her daughter’s unusual sleeping activity, but doctors could not determine exactly what was wrong with her.
After countless tests, one doctor finally remembered a colleague of his who had dealt with a similar case.
Goodier was diagnosed with a rare ailment called Kleine-Levin Syndrome (KLS), which is also known as Sleeping Beauty Sydrome.
The unusual case, which occurs usually among teenagers starting at age 16 and lasting for 13 years, has only been recorded in just 100 young people in Britain.
Despite its relation to a classic Disney fairy tale, those afflicted with the illness sufferers a great deal of misery, as they are essentially sleeping through the best years of their lives.
Goodier is currently two-and-a half months into another deep-sleep episode, and as estimated by her mother, she’s been asleep for almost 75% of the time.
Furthermore, doctors also found a link between her illness and recovery from tonsillitis back in 2011, which they believed triggered the disease.
Notwithstanding her peculiar case, Goodier keeps a positive attitude and even documents her progression on social media.
@APeaceOfBeth the progression over the days, I’m completely swollen and very ill. pic.twitter.com/W9IAmWD5RN
— Roo-dolf 🌲 (@APeaceOfBeth) August 31, 2016
In the brief moments that she is lucid, she uses the time to eat and drink to maintain her health, while also squeezing in some time for her boyfriend Dan, who she met during her awake episode three years ago.
Her mother also decided to give up her job in order to focus all her attention on her ailing daughter.
“She might wake up tomorrow and then it’s a race against time to live the life she should have had,” she described her child’s situation in the report.
“She rushes off to catch up with her friends and get her hair done. But no one knows when she might fall asleep again.It breaks my heart to see the best years of her life slipping away.” Khristian Ibarrola