Woman Baffled Doctors With Her Mysterious Condition That Mak

Woman Baffled Doctors With Her Mysterious Condition That Makes Her Bleed From Eyes And Tongue

Linnie Ikeda was born in August of 1990 in Waikele, Hawaii. According to her, she had a normal, happy childhood. Pictures at her home show her swimming, playing soccer, and playing with dolls. She graduated from Pearl City High School in 2008. It was supposed to be one of the happiest years of her life, instead, it was the start of her misery.

She was diagnosed with Gardner-Diamond Syndrome. This condition can cause random bruising in which is associated with stress and anxiety.

The bruises started to occur when Linnie was 17 years old. When bruises began showing up on her arms, back and torso, it felt like ‘a hammer hitting my bones,” and this made people think she’s being abused. Doctor appointments took up all of her free time.

Including doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, Linnie has seen a total of 30 doctors. They were familiar with Gardner-Diamond Syndrome, but they have never found a case that includes bleeding of the eyes or tongue. None of them helped her to understand her condition.

After two years, Linnie's tongue began splitting down the middle and bleeds for days for unknown reason. “I had 11 surgeries to cauterize the base of my tongue and to cut the blood vessels and I had 7 transfusions.” she added.

Her doctors were baffled and left without any diagnosis about her rare condition.

The bleeding usually occurs overnight between 2am and 5am, it doesn’t hurt when she’s bleeding, but the pain comes right before in a form of pressure.

“When it bleeds, it doesn’t hurt. It’s what leads up to the bleeding. I’ll feel pressure on my eyes, my eyes will be puffy and raw and that’s when I know my eyes are going to bleed.” Linnie said in her interview with Hawaii News Now.

Linnie’s mother, Lisa Ikeda, often went to her daughter’s room only to find her covered in blood. She said, “I’ve actually slept with her and I’ve gotten up every hour to check on her. It’s always around that time that she has that bleeding… I’ll usually wake her up and say, “honey, let’s go cleanup.”

“Or if it’s not that much, I’ll just wipe her up… and she goes back to sleep. A lot of times, it’s been bad, in her hair and everything so she’ll go shower.” her mom added.

Miles Ikeda, Linnie’s father, was so frustrated because the doctors can’t establish any pattern on her daughter disease. Yet Linnie has kept a detailed journal of her bleeding, and claims she just wants ‘to be normal.” She’s trying everything to cope with her inexplicable disease, but despite her condition she rarely misses work as an assistant teacher.

Mavis Ikeda, her older sister said “Linnie has been such a strong person and a source of inspiration. Though it was tough to watch her go through what she has.” She also said. ‘She doesn’t just curl up in a ball and say, “Why me?”

“The people that are going to fight for me, believe in me, that’s what makes me go on and live every day… to the best I can,” Linnie said.

Linnie bravely fought this battle quietly for years, only her family and close friends knew about her condition. But she finally decided to share her story. If no one can diagnose her symptoms, her story might provide comfort and inspiration to someone else who is also suffering, silently.