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Mum of teenager who went blind after only eating crisps and chocolate blames NHS

Harvey Dyer, 18, survived on a diet of crisps and chocolate from the age of two. (ITV)
Harvey Dyer, 18, survived on a diet of crisps and chocolate from the age of two. (ITV)

The mother of a teenager who went blind after only eating crisps and chocolate has blamed the NHS for his condition.

Kerry James said she and her son Harvey Dyer feel let down by the NHS because they failed to intervene sooner.

Appearing on ITV’s This Morning on Tuesday, Kerry claimed doctors could have done more to treat Harvey’s eating disorder, known as “avoidance restricted food intake disorder”.

Last October 18-year-old Harvey went blind in his left eye and a doctor blamed it on the lack of vitamins and minerals in his diet.

Harvey lost the sight in his left eye but hopes he will get it back soon. (ITV)
Harvey lost the sight in his left eye but hopes he will get it back soon. (ITV)

The doting mother believes vitamin A injections could have saved Harvey's sight if they were given to him at an earlier age.

"Back in December when we were told it was down to nutrition, we think if they’d done the blood test then and realised the Vitamin A was so low they could have given him the Vitamin A injections then and he could see a lot more out of that right eye and we could have saved it a lot better,” Kerry said.

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"Now we’ve just got to wait and see."

"We were offered the milkshakes and things like that but at the time you weren’t able to take it at all. I think she said to him your getting older now you need to take responsibility and eat these foods."

Urusula Philpot (right), a dietician at Leeds Beckett University, said she believed the NHS could have done more. (ITV)
Urusula Philpot (right), a dietician at Leeds Beckett University, said she believed the NHS could have done more. (ITV)

Kerry said Harvey would sweat, cry and scream when offered foods he didn’t like.

And when she took him to a pediatrician as a child, she couldn’t get him to take the medication they offered.

She says she "could not have done any more" to help her son and insists that she is not a "bad mum".

Urusula Philpot, a dietician at Leeds Beckett University who was also appearing on the show, said she also believed Harvey had been failed by the system.

Ms Philpot said he should have been given appropriate vitamins and minerals in injectable form.

She argued Harvey and his family had an experience that "shouldn't have happened".

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