If she cries - she dies: Rare seizure condition could kill British girl

Caters News/ZUMA PressTianna Lewis McHugh looks dead when she has a crying fit

When she cries, she dies - or so it seems.

A British baby has a rare seizure condition that appears to kill her when she cries.

Tianna Lewis McHugh looks dead when she has a crying fit, turning white and stiffening up like a corpse before the 2-year-old comes back to life.

"She cried for seconds and then she looked like she had died," mom Ceri Lewis, 23, told the British paper The Express last week.

"She went a deathly gray, her lips and around her eyes were blue and her eyes rolled back," the mother said.

Diagnosed with Reflex Anoxic Seizure at just 18 months, Tianna has survived at least 10 episodes, the most serious one lasting two hours.

The condition is believed to affect one in 20,000 children. It is potentially fatal if the victim suffers serious trauma during an episode, which can stop the heart from beating for up to two minutes.

"When she has fits it's horrendous," said her father, Andy McHugh, 30. "If she starts to cry we have to flick water in her face to bring her out of the shock."

The seizures can be brought on by any unexpected shock, according to medical experts. In Tianna's case, crying is enough to trigger the seizures.

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Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1224668/The-toddler-tears-trigger-fatal-fit.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0WM5JmzUi