THE father of a boy with an incredibly rare condition which causes him to throw up all his meals has spoken of his heartbreak at the 11 months it took to diagnose him.

Leo Streeton, five, has achalasia, a disease affecting one in two million people which prevents food from being digested. He first began being sick after meals when he started at St Cedd’s Primary School in Bradwell- on-Sea last September.

After initially being told to give him Calpol, his parents have spent a year travelling to Tillingham Surgery, St Peter’s Hospital and Broomfield Hospital before Leo was diagnosed in August.

Dad Micky Streeton, 51, of Steeple, said: “It’s been a year of going back and forth to different doctors and hospitals, from September to Christmas last year when taking him to the Tillingham Surgery, they kept saying there was nothing wrong and we should just give him Calpol.

“Only in February this year did we get referred to hospital and took him to A&E, which then led to consultations with nutritional and child doctors at St Peter’s Hospital in June, an MRA scan that didn’t show up anything and finally a set of X-rays at Broomfield which revealed his condition in August.”

Leo was due to have tests in Great Ormond Street Hospital in London in September, but it has been delayed until later this month due to the X-ray scans not being received from Broomfield Hospital.

Mr Streeton added: “Leo was a chunky lad when he was three, but now the weight has just fallen off him, I can put my index finger and thumb around his ankle.

"When we have a meal he may nibble a few bites but then needs to go and be sick.

“It’s heart-breaking, me and his mother Kelly have grown so frustrat- ed over how long it’s taken to get to this stage with no support or help from his surgery.

“All we want is for him to be treated so he can be happy and healthy.”

Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust said it was sorry to hear the family was unhappy and referred them to the complaints department.

No-one at Tillingham Surgery was available for comment.