19-year-old Delfina Cedeno has been suffering from a rare disorder for the past four years – she has been crying and sweating blood. Occasionally, blood also seeps out of her fingernails, belly button and nostrils.

Doctors at Delfina’s home town of Vernon, in the Dominican Republic, were baffled for a long time. Even after hundreds of tests, they couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her. In fact, no one believed Delfina until they actually saw her bleeding.

“At first, no one could help me and they looked at me like a crazy person when I told them what was going on,” the teenager said. “It was only when I started bleeding in front of a doctor one day that they began to take me seriously.” Things got totally out of hand when she bled for up to 15 days and was in such a critical condition that she needed a blood transfusion.

Delfina herself was scared to death and extremely stressed out with her horrifying condition. “When this started happening, I didn’t know what to think. I was terrified and in complete shock.” She also felt ashamed to leave home.

Photo: Listin Diario

“People were terrified of me. They thought if they touched me I would stain them with blood,” she said. “Kids laughed and shouted at me. For a long time, I just stayed in my bedroom.” Delfina had to drop out of school because of the way her friends and schoolmates treated her.

Over time, Delfina became depressed. She tried to take her life by overdosing on sedatives. When her family found her, she was lying in a heap in her bedroom with her mouth foaming. “I’d gone into cardiac arrest and they had to give me electric shocks. There was a chance I might have lost the use of my limbs.” Amazingly, she recovered and then her life started to get better.

A few months later, it was her strange condition that helped her find true love. Recaris Avila heard about Delfina and visited her at the hospital. “He said I was beautiful. I will remember that moment for the rest of my life,” Delfina said.The happy couple are now engaged to be married.

Photo: Listin Diario

There has been more good news in Delfina’s life this year – her doctors finally made a breakthough. She was diagnosed with Hematidrosis, a rare condition which means her body has 20 times the level of adrenaline of a normal person She also suffers from anxiety attacks, during which her blood pressure rises to such high levels that she sweats blood.

A study published by the Indian Journal of Dermatology states that the blood vessels around the sweat glands are narrowed during extreme stress. They dilate to a point of rupture and the blood goes into the sweat glands. The blood gets mixed with sweat and is pushed to the surface of the skin. Delfina is now being treated for anxiety, and this has helped control the bleeding.

I don’t know what to feel happy for – that Delfina is getting better or that she’s found love. She says that she feels free thanks to Recaris. “I don’t feel empty and I don’t want to die. Meeting him was exciting because I could start going out again.” Recaris is a happy man himself. “I consider our relationship normal regardless of her condition. I’m in love. For me, it’s normal. Sometimes she was embarrassed because she didn’t want me to see her bleeding,” he said. “I’m not worried. With her, I feel like a happy man.”

We’ve reported cases of blood tears twice before on OC. Haemolacria is also a rare condition, but unlike Delfina’s case, doctors still don’t have a cure for it.

Sources: Mirror.co.uk, Listin Diario