Meet the woman who has revealed the bizarre way she manages to breathe – through her neck!
Alli Robinson from birth has never known anything different with the way she breathes after having a tracheostomy inserted into her neck upon being born.
While she is capable of breathing without the trachea fitted in for a limited amount of time, it would eventually lead to carbon dioxide poisoning.
Residing in Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK, Alli was born with Pierre Robin sequence – a rare birth defect that results in having undeveloped jaws, making breathing much more difficult.
The silver tube that helps keep Alli alive has to be changed every two weeks.
The valve that is inserted into her neck has small hole at the end, however, if the valve were to be taken out, Alli revealed she is actually able to breathe easier – but talking then becomes more challenging.
Fortunately, Alli can afford to have her trachea out whilst changing the tubes over as some people who live with the condition have to immediately exchange tubes before it becomes fatal.
Alli regularly talks about her condition on TikTok as she boasts 185K followers on the platform sharing information about her trachea.
Pierre Robin sequence is estimated to occur in one in every 14,500 births in the UK each year.
Talking about her condition, Alli explained: “I breathe through my neck because my upper airway is really really small.
“My lower jaw was really small and deformed when I was born, so they had to put my trachea in. I have little tapes that keep it in place.
“I can still breathe without it, but when I have it all taken out, it’s just really hard to breathe and my oxygen and carbon dioxide levels don’t level properly.
“If I was to have it out for a long period of time then I’d get carbon dioxide poisoning.
“The risk definitely outweighs the pros of not having my trachea in. I don’t want to risk dying or having to be completely disabled”.