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To survive, the girl has to drink 3 liters of milk a day
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
9-year-old Holly Lindley suffers from a rare disease called glycogen storage disease and in order to stay alive, she is forced to drink milk in lethal doses - three liters daily. This disease does not allow the body to digest food and convert it into energy.
Unfortunately, there is no cure for this disease, so to prevent the girl from falling into a coma, she has to drink cold milk with five spoons of cornstarch. She drinks this drink before bed, and during the night the starch slowly releases energy.
This disease is very rare - on average, one in three million people. Holly was diagnosed with glycogen storage disease at the age of two. Doctors from the Doncaster Royal Infirmary medical center discovered that the girl's blood volume was sharply falling to a critical level. This led them to the idea that Holly had a rare disease. She was taken to hospital after losing consciousness.
Mum Karen Shaw spent almost £2,000 on milk.
"We have to remind Holly that she needs to drink milk even if she doesn't want to, because it's for her own good. Of course, it would be easier if she drank sugary fizzy drinks, which gave her energy. However, she doesn't like them, and the best option in this situation is milk. In addition, she has chocolate and sweets between each meal," says Karen. She laughs and says that Holly is probably the only girl who gets two bars of chocolate for breakfast and eats a box of chocolates during the day.
"I have to wake Holly up in the middle of the night and give her milk. If I don't, her energy level will reach a critical point. She sleeps eleven hours a day," says the girl's mother. "It was very difficult at first, and the first four years were a real nightmare. But then we got used to it, began to understand and learn more about the disease."
As Holly gets older, she will need more energy, which means she will need to increase the amount of milk she consumes.