A NURSE who was unable to eat a proper meal in five years is eating normally again after successful treatment in London.

Mum-of-two Pauline Smithstone, 51, said she was unable to swallow solid food and had survived for several years on yoghurts, ice creams and juices.

She won a battle to receive specialist help in December when NHS East Lancashire agreed to send her to the capital for eight weeks of treatment.

And now thanks to the help of two expert gastrourologists based in the Princess Grace Hospital Mrs Smithstone, of The Meadows, Ightenhill, Burnley, said she was “back on the road to recovery”.

She said: “I can't explain how good it feels actually to be able to eat.

“It's just a small daily task everybody takes for granted, but when it is taken away from you it's hard.

“But we are back on the road to recovery.”

Before her illness Mrs Smithstone was an agency nurse who had managed nursing homes.

But as her condition deteriorated she was unable to work for four months.

An initial approach to the NHS was declined last summer and she repeated her request in November.

A spokesman for NHS East Lancashire told the Lancashire Telegraph in December that the primary care trust was glad that it had been able to resolve the situation for Mrs Smithstone.

They said: “Given that her condition is rare, complex and very unusual, it has not been an easy process.

“Our Funding Requests Panel agreed to fund up to eight weeks inpatient treatment at the Princess Grace Hospital in London, with a progress report after the first month.”

At first she was able to eat solid food only through a tube into her stomach.

But she is now able to eat small amounts of food orally.