An Ammanford  dad is currently fighting for his life in hospital after being struck down with a mysterious illness which has seen him lose nearly half his body weight in under five months.

Since October last year Mathew Ryan hasn’t been able to hold down any food or liquid and is constantly vomiting.

The 33-year-old has gone from a healthy 13 stone down to seven stone and needs help to walk, stand, dress and wash.

Mat has been on a TPN feed and has had a peg feed tube inserted through his stomach down to his intestine to try and get nutrition into his body, but both procedures were unsuccessful.

His family have been vigorously trying to find out the cause of the sickness and have failed to get the answers they are looking for.

The father-of-five underwent a Jejunostomy last week - a surgical creation of an opening through the skin at the front of the abdomen and the wall of part of the small intestine - which looked like a success, but things took a turn for the worst a few days later when he was rushed to recess to be resuscitated.

His wife Alayna has set up a fundraising page to help raise money in order for Mat to get to London to visit a gastroenterologist specialist with advanced technology.

Alayna, 28 said: “I have contacted as many gastroenterologist surgeons as possible and two have got back to me saying that they will be able to assess Mat in the in London when he is referred by his consultant at Glangwili Hospital.

“We are hoping to get the referral to Royal Free Hospital any day now in order to get Mat on to the road of recovery and to get some answers.

“My husband is fading away from starvation in front of me and our children and we need help.”

In order for Mat to get to London he will need to be transported back and forth in an ambulance with paramedics on board and the family have been told that the cost will be around £1,000 each way.

The family are now hoping that they can raise enough money to help Mat get the treatment he needs.

The justgiving page was set up over the weekend and has already reached over £650.

You can donate by visiting justgiving.com/crowdfunding/alayna-ryan.