19 year old who Cries and Sweats Blood Finds Love

Delfina Cedeno, 19, began suffering from the bizarre disorder - which also causes blood to seep from her fingernails and belly button - four years ago.

As her condition deteriorated, she started crying the red fluid, having nosebleeds and suffering hair loss.The condition is extremely rare.

At her worst, she has bled for up to 15 days and was once left in such a critical condition that she needed a blood transfusion.

But despite hundreds of tests, doctors in her hometown of Veron, in the Dominican Republic, were left baffled.

She says she became so ashamed of her condition that she was terrified of leaving the home she shares with her mother Mariana, 36.

She dropped out of school and many of her friends deserted her out of embarrassment or fear that she was contagious.

She said: 'People were terrified of me. They thought if they touched me I would stain them with blood.

'Kids laughed and shouted at me. For a long time I just stayed in my bedroom.'

Miss Cedeno became so depressed by the ordeal that she even tried to take her own life by overdosing on sedatives.

She said: 'I wanted to die. My family found me in a heap in my bedroom with my mouth foaming. I ended up in intensive care for a week and when I woke up the doctors told me I had technically died.

'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.

'But amazingly I recovered. And now I'm really glad because after that my life started to get better.'

A few months later she met her boyfriend, Recaris Avila, who paid her a visit in hospital after hearing her story.

She said: 'He said I was beautiful. I will remember that moment for the rest of my life.'

Now, four years after it all began, specialists have finally made a breakthrough.

It is thought Miss Cedeno suffers with a rare condition called hematidrosis, which means she has 20 times the level of adrenaline of a normal person.

The anxiety attacks it causes makes her blood pressure rise so severely that she sweats - and this sweat comes out of her body as blood.

Miss Cedeno has now been given medication to control her anxiety, which has helped to control the bleeding.

And she and Recaris are now engaged.

Miss Cedeno said: 'Thanks to Recaris I feel free. I don't feel empty and I don't want to die. Meeting him was exciting because I could start going out again.

'I still start bleeding, but I know it will be okay because he's there to help and protect me.'

Mr Avila added: '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. I'm not worried. With her, I feel like a happy man.'