Paging Dr. House – A Real-Life Medical Mystery

 It's a case worth of Hugh Laurie and his staff on TV's House. And sadly, it's very real. A 13-year-old Scottish girl, born three months prematurely, has only one lung. She suffers from asthma. She's unable to see fast-moving objects. And, most incredibly, she risks a fatal brain attack by acts as simple as brushing her hair, walking across a carpet without lifting her feet, touching balloons at a part, or simply wearing anything made of polyester!

This is Megan Stewart,who has the strange combination of medical conditions. Because of complications, her mother had to undergo an emergency C-section almost three months prematurely. Megan weighed about 2 1/2 pounds at birth, and had to spend her first eighteen months of life in the Glasgow hospital where she was born. Doctors were soon aware of many of her disabling problems, but didn't discover that Stewart had hair brushing syndrome until her first day of school. Her mother was brushing her hair when Megan suddenly collapsed, forcing her to be rushed to a hospital.

How rare is hair brushing syndrome? Doctors at the Glasgow hospital say they'd only heard of one other case before Megan's.

Despite all of her medical problems, Megan lives as normal a life as possible. She's even planning a fundraiser for that hospital this fall.