Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
00:14 COMM: For two years, this girl has bled from
her head, hands and eyes - a condition that defies medical understanding.
00:22 GEORGE BUCHANAN: I am not aware of any medical
condition that would explain this.
00:26 COMM: Some say she’s possessed; but could
she be blessed?
00:32 Now, a unique spiritual and scientific journey
of discovery will try to solve the mystery.
00:38 ANTIA: If we can find out an organic cause
it will certainly be a landmark.
00:44 COMM: Can modern science or religious ritual
find a cure for The Girl Who Cries Blood?
00:56 COMM: This is Twinkle Dwivedi.
01:00 In many ways she’s a typical Indian teenager.
01:04 When she’s not praying at her local Hindu
temple…
01:08 …she hangs out with friends in the neighbourhood.
01:12 TWINKLE: I come out to play at five… and
I come back at 7 to 7:30 when the TV programmes start.
01:23 COMM: According to her sister Goldie, she’s
a real character.
01:29 GOLDIE: Twinkle is not the kind of girl who
will sit at home and study. She’s not like that. She’s a tomboy - she wants to play
and fight.
01:50 TWINKLE: I study when I feel like it. If someone
asks me to study, I don’t study.
01:56 COMM: In a male dominated society – Twinkle
gives as good as she gets.
02:04 GOLDIE: She likes watching TV. She likes listening
to songs. She likes playing games … she’s really good at games…
02:12 COMM: At thirteen (13), Twinkle is the youngest
in the Dwivedi household.
02:19 Her home is in the Northern Indian city of
Lucknow.
02:22 It’s famed for its Muslim architecture and
is often called ‘The Constantinople of India’.
02:38 Twinkle’s house is in a quite suburb a few
miles from downtown.
02:47 Her Dad works on the railways and is often
away so running the home is left to Nandani – Twinkle’s forty-two (42) year old mom.
02:56 Nandani juggles the responsibility of running
a beauty parlour and raising her kids… and with Twinkle… it’s not easy.
03:07 NANDANI: I have four daughters, the youngest
is Twinkle. Three are absolutely fine but Twinkle suffers from this problem… I don’t
understand what I should do.
03:20 COMM: For the last two years Twinkle Divewdi
has reported spontaneous bleeding from her eyes, hands, head and elsewhere on ther body.
03:32 NANDANI: She can start bleeding when she’s
watching TV or something. It can happen anytime.
03:39 TWINKLE: Mostly I bleed from my head, and
the hands, the feet, the chest, the throat, the ears, the nose, the eyes, from everywhere!
03:59 COMM: Twinkle’s shocking bleeding has meant
that for nearly two years she’s been unable to go to school.
04:06 COMM: But remarkably, there’s little pain.
03:08 There’s no visible source.
03:11 There are no cuts on her skin.
04:20 GOLDIE: What I can’t understand is that
she doesn’t get injured for her to start bleeding. If she got hurt and started to bleed
I’d understand that. But she is not getting hurt for the bleeding to start…
04:32 COMM: And when the blood’s washed-off it’s
as if it never happened.
04:40 These episodes terrified Twinkle’s family.
04:44 When they began two years ago they immediately
rushed her to their family physician – Dr. Siddiqui.
04:53 DR SIDDIQUI: A lot of the time the whole family
starts to cry and scream ‘doctor Save her! What do we do! My sister is going to die!’
So I told them to take her to a hospital.
05:09 COMM: Crying tears of blood is not unknown
to medical science. A rare condition called Haemolacria can produce tears partially composed
of blood. But Twinkle’s bleeding isn’t restricted to her eyes.
05:27 DR SIDDIQUI: Even after consulting two other
doctors, an ENT surgeon and a gastroenterologist… we still couldn’t make out where the blood
was from…
05:38 COMM: Siddiqui referred Twinkle’s case to
the All India Institute of Medical Sciences - AIIMS.
05:48 GOLDIE: The best hospital in India is considered
to be AIIMS. Mommy has taken her there but she didn’t get any positive response. They
said if she is bleeding, let her bleed. There is no problem. She’s just looking for attention.
06:04 COMM: For the most part, Twinkle’s bleeding
has simply been dismissed.
06:13 DR SIDDIQUI: I feel very bad that nobody is
helping her. At all the places they have been to everyone has passed the buck from one person
to the next.
06:30 NANDANI: The doctors look at her and turn
their backs. If it was their child do you think they would turn their backs? No they
wouldn’t!
06:39 COMM: Now, after two years of trying to find
an answer, Twinkle and her family still have no idea why she bleeds…
06:47 …and are disillusioned about the ability
of doctors in India to cure her…
06:54 GOLDIE: If you ask me whether I have faith
in Indian doctors I would say I have no faith. Not even one percent.
07:01 COMM: They’ve been told that medically,
Twinkle’s bleeding can not be explained.
07:07 But in the neighbourhood where Twinkle lives,
the rumour-mill is in overdrive.
07:13 Everyone has an opinion on what’s causing
the tears of blood.
07:20 MAN MOHAN SHARMA: You can call it a miracle.
I’ve have never seen or heard anything like it before…
07:28 RISHI: Friends say many things. Some say that
physically she is not so strong. Some say bad omen has been cast, some say it’s a
ghost…
07:40 COMM: Superstition is so strong here that
Twinkle and her Mother have visited a local mystic for guidance.
07:51 PRAYER WOMAN: It’s not a disease… It’s
like this… There is a spirit. It’s like an insect that sucks blood. And where-ever
it sucks the blood that’s where she bleeds. This is a spirit. It’s not going to go away
easily.
08 :10 COMM: According to the mystic, Twinkle is
they enter whosoever comes their way. It can be an old person or a child. It can be anyone.
And after that they start troubling the person in different ways …
08:36 They are beings that drink blood, So they
drink whatever they want and they rest they boil and that’s why it comes out of the
body…
08:45 COMM: She’s told them to pray and make offerings
in the temple as often as they can.
08:54 NANDANI: The offerings at the temple have
not helped. It’s not that I haven’t done what was asked of me. I haven’t neglected
it. I’ve done it; But her condition hasn’t improved by going to the temple or by dispelling
the spirits. They haven’t left…
09:14 COMM: But Twinkle’s bleeding bares an uncanny
resemblance to another supernatural phenomena.
09:22 The mysterious appearance of the wounds Jesus
suffered at his crucifixion on the hands, head and feet of others is known as Stigmata.
09:34 Though Christianity is a minority religion
in India less than two percent (2%) of the country’s population are Catholic, there’s
still more than seventeen (17) million followers.
09:47 Today, Twinkle is on her way to ask Gerald
Mathias – the Bishop of Lucknow if Stigmata is the reason she cries tears of blood.
09:59 TWINKLE: I have seen in your office this photo.
Is this what happens to me? BISHOP: Have you seen a photo of Jesus Christ?
Which photo? TWINKLE: Where he is like this with his arms.
I have seen it.
10:18 COMM: But the Bishop doesn’t believe Twinkle’s
bleeding has anything to do with Christ’s suffering on the cross.
10:28 BISHOP: We shouldn’t assume that the problem
that’s worrying Twinkle … is related to Jesus Christ. She doesn’t have a full knowledge
of Christ … and she doesn’t pray to him, …so she can not be involved in his sorrow
and burden. My personal opinion is that in this case, in Twinkle’s case, It’s not
Stigmata.
10:04 COMM: He prays for her…
10:08 BISHOP: Our Father, my God; I place my hand
on Twinkle. Whatever her difficulty, whatever her illness, you can make everything better.
We pray through Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Ok.
11:37 COMM: But Miraculously, just moments after
her blessing Twinkle bleeds in front of the Bishop.
11:48 BISHOP: How did this happen? Did it happen
just now? TWINKLE: I was opening the bathroom door and
when I came out, mom saw me bleeding. I didn’t see it.
BISHOP: Does it hurt? TWINKLE: No.
12:10 COMM: But Twinkle’s spontaneous bleeding
fails to impress the Bishop.
12:18 BISHOP: This is clearly not a case of mystical
experience. A Mystic will be in a trace as it were but this is not the case with Twinkle.
Twinkle, no She behaves and is as a normal girl…but how do we explain? I’m personally
not an expert … so live in hope eh? Ok Twinkle… keep smiling.
12:43 COMM: Their meeting has been unsuccessful.
Nandani’s daughter bleeds and the Bishop hasn’t been able to offer any explanation
why.
12:56 NANDANI: That’s what I didn’t understand.
We are all God’s children. Blood doesn’t come in different colours. If she was born
a Christian he’d have considered …that this was the soul of Jesus Christ. But because
she is Hindu it is not a case of Stigmata.
13:17 COMM: Catholicism can’t help them so Twinkle
and her mother decide to concentrate on their own religion - Hinduism.
13:27 They’ve been to temples in Lucknow but now
they decide to go on a pilgrimage to one of the holiest places in India.
13:36 There they’ll observe cleansing rituals
on the banks of the sacred Ganges.
13:44 They’ll also visit a famous Ayurverdic centre
in the hope Twinkle will get treatment.
13:56 Their journey starts with a thirteen (13)
hour train ride.
14:05 NANDANI: We will make offerings to God, I’ll
make sure Twinkle makes offerings to God…and we’ll pray that my child gets better.
14:17 COMM: Twinkle’s journey begins on a night
that has special significance for Hindus’.
14:23 It’s the first full moon of Phalgun – the
last month of the Hindu Calendar.
14:29 It marks the beginning of Spring and the start
of Holi – a religious festival popular in Northern India.
14:38 Twinkle and her Mother are on their way to
Haridwar over three hundred miles north west of Lucknow.
14:47 It’s one of the seven holiest sites in Hinduism
and a place of Pilgrimage.
14:55 NANDANI: Twinkle believes in God. She has
a lot of faith. So we will pray and seek medical help to cure her. Sometimes you need to do
both.
14:11 TWINKLE: I believe in god a lot so I want
to go there and ask him something… I’ll pray that I get well soon … and also that
I put on some weight. (laughs)…
15:31 COMM: It is eleven (11) o’clock in the morning
and the Express train is pulling-in at its destination.
15:40 Twinkle and her mother arrive in Haridwar
as celebrations for Holi - the annual ‘Festival of Colours’ are well underway.
15:50 The festival celebrates the start of Spring
and commemorate a Hindu legend where good triumphs over evil.
16:00 Tradition has it that people throw brightly
coloured powders over each other and generally go a bit wild in the streets.
16:08 Today, Haridwar is a riot of colour.
16:16 But Nandani and Twinkle haven’t travelled
here for the holiday - they’ve come for a spiritual cleansing in the Ganges.
16:28 In Hindi, the name Haridwar stands for Gateway
to God.
16:35 It’s believed that bathing in the Ganges
here washes away sins.
16:42 The sacred waters free the soul from the cycle
of birth and reincarnation and guarantee immortality.
16:50 It’s believed that immersing yourself at
Haridwars’ Ghat during a religious festival is especially potent…
16:59 …And tens of thousands travel to the city
each year to do just that.
17:09 Twinkle and Nandani begin the ritual by praying
at a Temple at the Hari-Ki-Pari Ghat - the sacred heart of City.
17:23 Next they give flowers and candles – called
diyas – to the Ganges, offerings that represent the soul and its blossoming purity.
17:38 Now, Twinkle is ready to immerse herself in
the sacred waters.
17:44 It’s time for her cleansing.
17:56 As she and her mother pray preparations for
the Aarti begin.
18:02 It’s a Hindu ritual which is often called
‘The Ceremony of Lights’.
18:10 Amid chanting, bell ringing and prayers, flaming
torches are offered-up – it’s a symbolic gesture that asks for the ‘light’ that
illuminates the Lord to light-up the vision of the faithful.
18:31 Now that they’ve embraced all of these cleansing
rituals… Twinke and her mother wait for a sign that she is cured.
18:44 NANDANI: Her eyes started to go red, I kept
looking at her. She asked me what I was looking at … I know that when her eyes go red she
may start bleeding. Then it started.
18:57 TWINKLE: Sometimes it hurts but today it doesn’t.
19:01 TWINKLE: But hurts a little bit when I wash.
19:06 COMM: Twinkle’s pain is often shared by
her mother. Not physically but emotionally.
19:17 NANDANI: It worries me... I find it difficult.
It hurts me to see her like this.
19:31 NANDANI: Is it hurting in your eyes?
TWINKLE: No…
19:36 COMM: But when the blood’s washed off…
there’s no redness or irritation. In fact, there’s no evidence at all that suggests
that Twinkle has just bled from her eyes.
19:49 NANDANI: Sometime I believe we’ll find a
cure …but we are broken now. We’ve lost faith.
20:00 COMM: It’s the next morning.
20:04 As people in Haridwar go about their daily
business, Twinkle has an appointment at Patanjali Yogpeeth – one of the most advanced ayurverdic
centres in the world.
20:16 If religion can’t cure her, perhaps a more
Holistic approach is needed.
20:21 She’s already seen Ayurverdic physicians
in Lucknow with no success.
20:28 But here in Haridwar Twinkle has an appointment
with a famous practitioner who claims to have discovered cures for incurable diseases.
20:39 She’s extremely fortunate. Acharya Balkrisha
rarely gives personal consultations.
20:47 ACHARYA: How long have you had this problem
of bleeding from everywhere? TWINKLE: Two years.
20:57 ACHARYA: How many doctor have you been to
see? NANDANI: Four
20:03 COMM: Ayurveda is an ancient Indian holistic
medical practice that combines diet, yoga, massage and herbal remedies to maintain health.
21:14 According to ancient Hindu texts the health
of the human body is governed by three elements or ‘Doshas’ – these are the Vata (spirit),
Pitta (Bile) and Kapha (Phlegm).
21:30 ACHARYA: The body functions because of these
three elements… and when we balance them we can cure any disease… beit cancer, AIDS,
heart disease or arthritis.
21:45 COMM: To make a diagnosis Acharya checks each
of Twinkle’s ‘Doshas’.
21:51 He’s looking for an irregularity in her
pulse at three points on her wrist - that will tell him where she has the imbalance.
21:58 ACHARYA: And for someone with acidity problems
or blood related problems you will feel it here…
22:04 ACHARYA: Her problem is related to Pitta so
if you check you will feel the pulse here…It’s not here or here, it’s here.
22:12 COMM: Acharya‘s identified a problem with
Twinkle’s Pitta – her bile. He thinks it’s the source of her bleeding and is ready
to admit her as a patient.
22:24 ACHARYA: I want to do this as a challenge…
because you said there’s bleeding but I don’t know what type. I’m not worried
because it’s not that serious. It’s not an emergency case. She should stay here. It
will be for the best.
22:40 COMM: But his offer to treat her doesn’t
get the reaction he expected.
22:48 ACHARYA: Will you stay?
TWINKLE; No, not here.. ACHARYA: You want to get better don’t you?
Lots of people stay here… We have TV. This is not a hospital. She will stay!
23:18 COMM: Twinkle and her mother refuse the offer.
23:22 NANDANI: We have shown her to so many people.
So many people. And with the doctor here it felt as if he took it very lightly.
23:34 COMM: But the heart of their decision lies
in the fact that a top American blood specialist is flying to India to meet Twinkle.
23:46 TWINKLE: I want to meet the American Doctor.
I have greater faith in Foreign Doctors. Not the doctors here. I have already met Ayurvedic
doctors and they’ve given me medicines but it hasn’t changed a thing…
24:00 COMM: Twinkle is putting her faith in Dr.
George Buchanan, a world renowned Pediatric Hematologist who’s flown over nine thousand
(9000) miles to investigate her unique condition.
24:13 DR. BUCHANAN: The news reports I heard about
Twinkle were just so intriguing because of the unusual nature of her bleeding. Crying
tears of blood, having bleeding appearing spontaneously on her scalp, on her palms,
under her eyes … it’s not recorded in medical history to my knowledge and doesn’t
fit with any known bleeding disorder so for that reason I was just very, very intrigued
by it.
24:37 COMM: Dr. Buchanan will base his investigation
at one of Mumbai’s top hospitals - Jaslok. There, he’ll be working with Consultant
Haematologist Dr. Antia.
24:50 Together, they’ll try to solve the extraordinary
puzzle of Twinkle’s bleeding.
24:56 ANTIA: The sites that I have mentioned are
totally unusual. Scalp, eyes, unheard of, undocumented.
25:03 COMM: About seven percent (7%) of human body
weight is made up of blood. In adults, this amounts to four (4) or five (5) quarts.
25:11 Blood has four main components…
25:15 Red blood cells carry oxygen…
25:18 White blood cells defend the body against
infection…
25:23 …and platelets help the blood to clot.
25:26 These three are carried within the fourth
- a protein rich fluid called plasma.
25:33 The heart pumps this blood through an intricate
network of tubes called blood vessels which keep it contained within our bodies.
25:43 DR. BUCHANAN: So there are only 3 ways one
can have bleeding. Something wrong with the blood vessels, something wrong with the platelets,
or something wrong with the proteins or factors in the blood that make the blood clot.
25:53 DR. BUCHANAN: It just doesn’t seem medically
possible for bleeding to come through intact skin where there’s no evidence of any skin
abnormality or damage to the skin… and so in trying to get an understanding of the cause
here is extremely important.
26:11 COMM: That afternoon, Nandani and Twinkle
arrive in Mumbai.
26:16 Their appointment to meet the doctors is scheduled
for tomorrow.
26:22 DR. BUCHANAN: Seeing the actual bleeding given
its very unusual location and nature I think will be extremely important for us.
26:28 COMM: As a precaution, Dr. Buchanan has asked
that Twinkle and her mother stay at his hotel.
26:37 If Twinkle has a bleeding episode, Dr. Buchanan
wants to be on the scene as quickly as possible.
26:48 That night, at one am Dr. Buchanan gets an
emergency call to room five zero three (503).
26:59 Eight (8) hours ahead of schedule, he meets
Twinkle for the very first time.
27:11 DR. BUCHANAN: Are you feeling ok? Are you
feeling ok? MAN: TRANSLATES
TWINKLE: I’m in a bit of pain. DR. BUCHANAN: Where is the pain now? Where
does it hurt? MAN: On the back of her head.
DR. BUCHANAN: Yeah. Wow. I’m just gonna look ok. I’m not going to hurt you.
27:36 DR. BUCHANAN: There’s what looks like blood
here. I’m just looking for a wound of some kind but I don’t really see any. You know
an opening of the skin. Usually when somebody has bleeding like this one can see a cut or
a scratch or something that started it… It’s not clear to me. I’ve not seen this
before.
28:04 DR. BUCHANAN: Do we have one of those glass
slides? Err…it’s just a little piece of glass... I’m not going to cut you or hurt
you or anything with this but I just want to touch this to the top of your head.
28:17 COMM: Testing the substance on Twinkle’s
scalp will help Dr. Buchanan’s investigation. Next he collects another sample using a different
technique.
28:31 DR. BUCHANAN: This is saline and what I wanna
do is get a little dab of the blood and, and save it so we can look at the blood cells
and measure them.
28:40 COMM: Storing the sample in saline prevents
the blood from drying-out.
28:46 DR. BUCHANAN: So this is basically giving
us a suspension of red blood cells – and so the laboratory ought to be able to some
testing err determining the type of blood.
29:00 COMM: With the evidence in hand, Dr. Buchanan
gives his initial reaction to what he’s just witnessed…
29:06 DR. BUCHANAN: It’s very unusual yeah, err
with the lack of any, err, clearly It looks like blood to me, it’s partially clotted
err I think it’s gonna turn out to be blood… err …I am not aware of any medical condition
that I can explain scientifically as a Haematologist knowing about blood clotting that would explain
this.
29:38 COMM: Dr Buchanan thinks the analysis of two
samples he collected from Twinkle’s scalp might help solve the mystery of her bleeding…
29:47 COMM: …and for Nandani, the tests he’s
commissioning represent a real breakthrough…
29:51 DR. BUCHANAN: …give you some specimines
of blood…
29:55 NANDANI: Twinkle bled in front of Dr. George.
He was prepared for it. This has never happened before. Such a test has never been done by
anyone else.
30:07 COMM: After last night’s bleeding, Dr. Buchanan
is eager to begin his official evaluation into Twinkle’s unique problem.
30:15 He begins by reviewing her records.
30:19 DR. BUCHANAN: The medical history that is
the most important part of working up and evaluating a patient with a bleeding disorder.
The tests are helpful, the tests can sometimes be diagnostic but it’s the history, the
location of the bleeding the severity, the frequency, when it began, what brings it on,
what’s done about it. That kind of leads us in the right direction.
30:39 COMM: Next he talks Twinkle and Nandani about
the bleeding.
30:43 DR. BUCHANAN: …ask Twinkle some questions
about her health, her overall heath, her general health over her entire life. (Woman Translates)
DR. BUCHANAN: when she was a young girl growing up was her…
30:59 COMM: He’s looking for details that will
help him uncover the cause of the condition…
31:05 DR. BUCHANAN: Were there other problems with
her health prior to July 2007? NANDANI: She had some nose bleeding.
DR. BUCHANAN: Any problem with her vision or her hearing when she was growing up?
NANDANI: No. DR. BUCHANAN: Oh, Ok. How about her stomach?
31:20 COMM: It’s a lengthy process...
31:22 …and it’s repeated by Doctor Antia.
31:26 ANTIA: During her *** she has to use about
eight pads. That is very heavy.
31:34 COMM: Twinkle’s history of nose bleeds and
heavy periods is significant.
31:37 They’re both common symptoms of a problem
with platelets - one of the four main components that make-up blood.
31:45 Platelets are cells that form the primary
plug when there’s an injury to a blood vessel.
31:51 They ‘stick’ together or ‘aggregate’
at the site of the injury - forming a clot to prevent blood from escaping.
31:59 If there are too few of these cells or they
don’t function properly it means that the blood ‘clots’ less effectively.
32:08 If Twinkle has a platelet problem it MIGHT
explain her unusual bleeding.
32:14 To find out if her platelets are functioning
properly a small incision is made on her skin and the time it takes for blood to clot is
monitored.
32:28 ANTIA: The normal person should stop bleeding
in about five minutes or seven minutes. If she continues to bleed prolonged that itself
will prove in itself that she has a functional platelet disorder…
32:37 COMM:It’s a simple but effective test.
32:42 ANTIA: The clot is forming.
DR. BUCHANAN: It really has, I think so. Yes sir it’s err…
ANTIA: There you are… ANTIA: Seven minutes exactly. Normal.
32:52 COMM: The result suggests that there’s nothing
wrong with Twinkle’s platelets.
32:58 But to double check, the specialists will
perform a full range of sophisticated tests on Twinkle’s blood.
33:05 Jaslok’s technicians will look for any evidence
of abnormalities.
33:12 But Dr. Buchanan isn’t sure that these tests
will answer The KEY question.
33:20 DR. BUCHANAN: Where does the blood come from?
It seems like it would have to come seeping through the skin of the scalp or through the
tissues in the eyes and I’m just not aware or any medical condition that would lead to
this.
33:35 COMM: Medically speaking it shouldn’t be
possible for Twinkle to bleed from her scalp without there being any sort of opening.
33:45 DR. BUCHANAN: What I’m looking for in the
middle of her scalp is to see if there’s any cuts that would explain these events of
bleeding from her scalp.
33:54 Dr. Buchanan is searching for any sign that
will tell him where the blood came from.
34:04 DR. BUCHANAN: Almost always people with low
platelet or platelet problems bruise easily, they also have little pin-point red spots
on their skin so called Petechiae they’re present really on the skin all over the body
that’s seen with low platelet counts.
34:15 COMM: He thoroughly scrutinizes her skin,
limbs and joints.
34:18 DR. BUCHANAN: Does this hurt when I just touch
your knee… TWINKLE: No.
34:22 DR. BUCHANAN: Basic impressions of the physical
exam. Really, it’s quite normal. I really didn’t find anything that suggests some
kind of underlying deep seated generalised problem that might be associated with bleeding.
34:233 DR. BUCHANAN: …listen to your heart a little
bit…
34:36 COMM: Dr. Buchanan’s investigation is about
to take an unexpected turn.
34:45 DR. BUCHANAN: Twinkle’s really very unusual
bleeding is really is a mystery and makes me suspect that this could be something that’s
been called factitious bleeding. The bleeding occurs as a result of the patient or a family
member putting the blood there or err causing a lesion or scratch or cut to bring on the
bleeding - yet the physical examination doesn’t really support that because there’s no evidence
despite the bleeding from her scalp.
35:18 COMM: Now, the doctor begins to question everything
about Twinkle’s case.
35:22 DR. BUCHANAN: Is it Twinkle’s blood? Err,
We’re not sure of that right now. We didn’t really see the bleeding start and so we really
don’t know how it began – how the blood got there.
35:34 COMM: To find out, Dr. Buchanan has to confirm
that the substance he took from Twinkle’s scalp IS actually blood.
35:42 DR. BUCHANAN: by looking at this under the
microscope I can say for sure there are red blood cells and white blood cells there so
its blood. The question is, is it Twinkles blood?
35:53 COMM: To answer that, he needs the results
of the other sample he collected – Twinkle’s test tube.
36:01 Its contents is being analysed to identify
what ‘type’ or ‘group’ the blood is …but the results won’t be in for another
hour.
36:12 In the meantime, Drs. Buchanan and Antia are
about to get the results of the other tests they commissioned yesterday.
36:22 These will tell them if Twinkle has any defects
or deficiencies in her red blood cells, proteins or platelets.
36:31 DR. BUCHANAN: The 1st page really is a series
of basic screening tests… ANTIA: Yes
DR. BUCHANAN: …including some one that are fairly … looking for some unusual conditions…and,
they’re all normal… ANTIA: They’re all normal.
36:42 COMM: But page two tells a different story.
36:45 ANTIA: So here we are finding some abnormalities
in the platelet aggregation study…
36: 51 COMM: Twinkle’s test results have shown
that she does have a problem with her blood. But it’s a minor one. Her platelets aren’t
sticking together properly.
36:59 DR.ANTIA: From the basis if these tests I
can certainly say she has a bleeding problem… what I can not understand is, on the basis
of these tests I still can not explain her symptoms.
37:15 DR. BUCHANAN: Taking an Aspirin two days earlier
would cause the abnormalities we’re seeing on this test. It’s not going to cause Twinkle’s
unusual bleeding manifestations.
37:26 DR. BUCHANAN: So it does make me very suspicious
that this is bleeding that’s been brought on purposefully in some way by Twinkle and
or her Mother.
37:38 COMM: Now the doctors wonder if the result
of the test tube sample will tell them the answer.
37:45 They know Twinkle has a rare blood type – AB
Positive.
37:58 DR.ANTIA: This is AB positive. And the reason
why we …
37:00 DR. BUCHANAN: This would be consistent with
the blood from her scalp being actually HER blood - not absolute proof - but would be
consistent.
37:08 COMM: Dr. Buchanan can’t rule out the possibility
that the blood isn’t Twinkle’s.
38:14 DR. BUCHANAN: I mean right now, it’s very
unclear. I think the mother’s blood group is still going to be important and I agree
that’s she’s unlikely to be AB positive but if she were from the same blood group
then I think that would still raise the question that the blood could come from the mother.
38:30 COMM: But before the doctors can test Nandani’s
blood – that night, back at the hotel Twinkle bleeds again.
38:45 DR. BUCHANAN: Ohh… I’m sorry what’s
happening here? TWINKLE: I was watching TV and then I started
to bleed from this eye and then this one. DR. BUCHANAN: How about your eyes? Do they
hurt at all? Or Burn? TWINKLE: It’s burning a bit because of the
blood…
39:08 COMM: Dr. Buchanan takes a closer look.
39:11 DR. BUCHANAN: Do you mind if I kinda put my
finger round you eye just to kinda check if…would that be ok?
TWINKLE: Ok DR. BUCHANAN: … Ok... I’m just going to
look here.
39:20 COMM: It’s the first time he’s witnessed
Twinkle’s tears of blood.
39:25 DR. BUCHANAN: I’m sorry. Can you look way
up here, the ceiling look way up there? That’s good. Thank you. OK. Ok. Sorry.
39:39 COMM: He’s looking to see if the blood has
come from her tear ducts – a rare condition called Haemolacria.
39:47 DR. BUCHANAN: So it looks like the bleeding
sort of comes from outside the actual eye rather than from the eyes. There is no real
pattern, it’s just blotted…
39:57 COMM: For the first time, Dr. Buchanan openly
questions Twinkle about where the blood is coming from.
40:04 DR. BUCHANAN: Do you have any bleeding anywhere
else right now? TWINKLE: No
DR. BUCHANAN: nowhere else on your body, on your skin, chest. On your back…
DR. BUCHANAN: So how do you think this happened? TWINKLE: I don’t know…
DR. BUCHANAN: So you didn’t make it happen? DR. BUCHANAN: did you put the blood there
on your hands and on your face? TWINKLE: No.
40:44 COMM: Nandani doesn’t like the questions.
40:49 NANDANI: Do you think someone is putting it
there?
40:54 GEORGE I don’t know. I think that’s it’s
a possibility yes.
41:04 COMM: Dr. Buchanan is suspicious that Twinkle’s
tears of blood are being faked. The next morning he confronts Nandani.
41:14 DR. BUCHANAN: I have to ask you one very important,
difficult question. Are you causing Twinkle’s bleeding, are you causing the bleeding, putting
blood on her, are you responsible for this? NANDANI: No, I do not make my child bleed
nor do I put blood on her.
41:35 COMM: Then, for the first time, Dr. Buchanan
meets Twinkle away from her mother.
41:41 DR. BUCHANAN: Um, I wanna ask you a couple
of questions would that be ok? Have you brought on or caused the bleeding yourself.? Do you
make yourself bleed? TWINKLE: No.
DR. BUCHANAN: You’re sure? TWINKLE: Yes.
DR. BUCHANAN: You’ve never done anything to bring on or cause bleeding?
TWINKLE: No. DR. BUCHANAN: Ok, I had to ask that question.
You understand that, why I’m asking the question?
TWINKLE: No. TWINKLE: Do you think I put blood on myself?
If you think that I don’t want to be treated by you.
TWINKLE: I don’t want to be treated by you.
42:40 TWINKLE: I don’t want help from someone
who asks me these questions. TWINKLE: Mom may not get angry by these questions,
but they make me angry.
42: NANDANI: Twinkle listen to me…
TWINKLE: I don’t want to listen to anyone. NANDANI: First listen to me…
TWINKLE: No I don’t want to! TWINKLE: You brought me here so they could
ask me those questions. NANDANI: Don’t you want to get better?
TWINKLE: No! NANDANI: Tell these people that we’re telling
the truth!
43:26 NANDANI: The doctors are asking because they’ve
seen you bleeding from the head… and yesterday you were bleeding from your eyes… But the
world will ask; ‘Have you seen it start?’ Then what answer can they give? You have to
give them the answer!
43:52 Say to them ‘fine!’ Put Cameras on me…
like the ones they have in shops! Put those cameras on and the whole world will see…if
I’m putting the blood there or it’s coming out on its own.
43:11 COMM: After a few minutes – Twinkle is calm
enough to see Dr. Buchanan …
44:18 DR. BUCHANAN: I’m sorry Twinkle…I want
you to know first of all that as your doctor I wanna help you. I really do.
DR. BUCHANAN: I’ve never seen anyone who has bleeding like you have.
DR. BUCHANAN: I’m not accusing you or saying that you’re doing it but I have to ask as
your doctor to try to help make this better. I had to ask that question whether you were
doing it to yourself. TWINKLE: It’s ok…
44:57 COMM: It’s 7am the following morning. Nandani
has agreed to have her blood tested to confirm that the blood on Twinkle isn’t hers. Dr.
Antia is overseeing the process.
45:15 She’s A negative.
45:17 The AB positive blood Dr. Buchanan found on
Twinkle can’t be from Nandani.
45:25 But does this mean Dr. Antia can explain where
Twinkle’s tears of blood come from?
45:32 DR.ANTIA: That’s the only answer I can not
give you, the explanation of her symptoms on the basis of these lab tests that is something
which I have to say sorry… I can’t answer that question…
45:43 COMM: But Dr. Buchanan thinks his investigation
has uncovered enough information for a diagnosis to be made.
45:51 DR. BUCHANAN: …done an awful lot so I’m
ready now to kind of explain to you my opinions…
45:54 COMM: Back at the hotel he tells them what
he thinks…
45:57 DR. BUCHANAN: … who really wants to understand
Twinkle’s problem and help her…
46:00 DR. BUCHANAN: Now, there’s two possibilities
as to what’s causing this. One possibility is that you have ‘Twinkle Syndrome,’ totally
unique medical problem that no one else has had before and we’ll name it after you if
we can prove that …. That’s one possibility, but in order to determine that we are going
to have to see the bleeding start…
46:27 COMM: This simple fact means no one can rule
out the possibility that Twinkle’s condition is the result of something else…
46:35 DR. BUCHANAN: …now as you know other doctors
have raised suspicion or question about the bleeding and there’s a term called Munchausen’s
Syndrome by Proxy…
46:46 COMM: Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy is
a rare disorder where a child’s illness has been fabricated or induced by a parent.
46:56 In most documented cases that parent is the
Mother.
47:00 DR. BUCHANAN:… and that’s why I asked
each of you whether this was bleeding that either of you caused and you told me it wasn’t.
I trust you, I believe you. But many other doctors haven’t believed you and aren’t
going to, until we can actually see the bleeding ourselves start without anybody causing it.
That would convince people that you don’t have that problem.
47:26 COMM: But Dr. Buchanan is offering Nandani
and Twinkle a ray of hope.
47:31 DR. BUCHANAN: So I think the best thing ideally,
would be for us, to observe Twinkle for a period of time, twenty four hours a day, so
we can see the bleeding start. Might be difficult to arrange, and to do, but I will try very
hard to see if we can do that …
47:48 COMM: It’s an offer that Nandani is happy
to accept…
47:53 NANDANI – How will I know when they have
arranged for everything? GEORGE: Well, you and I are going to stay
in contact and we will have to work out a means to do that. Well, we will be in contact
and will try to make those arrangements. NANDANI: OK.
48:12 COMM: It’s the news they’ve both been
waiting for.
48:16 NANDANI: No one has ever said I believe you
or your mother. No one has ever said that. George is saying that.
48:24 COMM: Even Twinkle is seeing the bright side…
48:28 TWINKLE: Like Dr. George said, I am absolutely
fine and I should go back to school, so I should go back to school. If I go back to
school I will be teased (Laugh) NANDANI: Ok, so when the children tease you
saying that you’re still not better and still bleeding’ what will you say then?
TWINKLE: I’ll say that I need to concentrate on my studies and not listen to your rubbish!’
49:01 COMM: Unless Twinkle’s bleeding can be observed
as it begins there’ll always be the suspicion that her tears of blood are somehow faked.
49:10 Until then, Dr. Buchanan can only speculate
as to the cause.
49:18 DR. BUCHANAN: It’s heart versus head because
I really very much admire this young lady and her mother and trust them see a very healthy
relationship between the two. My heart tells me that this really is truly something that
I’ve never seen before… My head tells me as a physician scientist that in fact Munchausen’s
Syndrome by Proxy is the most likely diagnosis but I’m going to keep an open mind at this
point.
49:46 Until Dr. Buchanan can arrange for the 24/7
monitoring of Twinkle in a ‘sleep lab’ back home – Her case will remain a mystery.