A man with an ultra-rare disease nearly died twice in the space of a year – from drinking water.

Liam Findlay, 29, was diagnosed with achalasia, an unusual condition that stops sufferers from swallowing, in 2017 after he found himself unable to eat even simple meals like sandwiches. He ultimately had surgery for his condition, but he still needs to drink vast quantities of water just to keep food down – which has proven near-fatal on multiple occasions.

Speaking of his initial diagnosis, Liam told the Daily Star: "I'd never heard of [the disease] before. I would have to kind of spit [food] out. It would get stuck in my food pipe like a blocked drain."

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Liam said his condition got so bad, he would have to spit his food out into the bin and he was eating so few calories he lost a whopping two stone. After a number of tests, including putting a camera down Liam's throat, he was eventually given his diagnosis – which affects between eight and 12 people in every 100,000, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

After waiting several months for surgery, Liam had a procedure that saw the top of his stomach cut open, making it easier for him to swallow food. However, he was told he would have to drink plenty of water to make digestion possible.

And while things were finally looking up for Liam, disaster struck in January of this year after his immense water consumption nearly killed him for the first time. "Initially I was having maybe two or three litres per meal," he said.

"The first time [I had water poisoning] it was kind of a surprise. I wasn't aware of the risk at the time, so I had maybe a litre or two with my dinner.

"I get painful spasms quite often [because of my condition] and sometimes water would help get rid of that so I had some more water. I'd had too much water within the space of an hour and my body couldn't process it properly.

"I went pale and lost feelings in my fingers and my feet and had to go to A&E."

Liam had to be pumped full of electrolytes to restore him to health, and once released the incident prompted him to be more careful about his water intake.

But when he went on holiday to Rome over the summer he suffered yet another near-fatal bout of water poisoning as he struggled to keep cool in the hot weather. "I thought because it was hot I could have an extra bottle of water, and then that turned out to be too much," he recalled.

"This occasion turned out to be not as serious as the January one and I just kind of rested in the hospital, but it was an extra warning. I've got to be super careful all the time."

But Liam's diagnosis hasn't been all bad. As he was waiting for the surgery that allowed him to swallow again, he took the time to pen a children's book, The Doom Town Dummies, which has now been published.

"It was a nice way to keep myself occupied and to kind of escape in my mind," he recalled.

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