A 14-YEAR-OLD boy died of such a rare condition doctors had no chance of diagnosing it, an inquest heard.

Damien Sweet, from Queen's Road, Blackburn, died last September after a loop of small intestine went through a hole in his diaphragm and became stuck which caused the tissue to die.

His family had taken him to see two doctors as he felt unwell, but they had sent him away with painkillers or antibiotics.

Paediatric pathologist Dr Melanie Newbold told the inquest yesterday that she had never seen an adult or child die from such a condition before.

She said: "What was unusual was there was this hernia going up through the diaphragm which looked to be a loop of dead small intestine and that's very unusual.

"It's something I have never seen either in a child or in an adult.

"As a doctor you really wouldn't think about something like this at all because it's so very unusual."

Damien was born with serious disabilities and was described as a hero after he death due to his spirit and determination.

The inquest was told he had begun to feel ill on September 18 and complained of stomach ache.

The next day his mother Elizabeth Sweet took her son to see a GP at Royal Blackburn Hospital who gave him painkillers. Damien did not improve so Mrs Sweet took him to see her GP the next day when he was given antibiotics.

But Damien, who had surgery in 2002 for a hole in the heart, still did not improve overnight so Mrs Sweet took him to Royal Blackburn Hospital's accident and emergency. Although doctors could find nothing wrong with him, she demanded he have a bed on the children's ward. Damien died later that day and the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust launched an investigation.

Coronor Michael Singleton said: "Food was unable to pass through and the blood supply so the tissues died. That would explain why Damien was unwell for a number of days and why he was increasingly unwell. This is a very rare condition."

Mr Singleton apologised to Damien's family for the amount of time it had taken for the inquest to be held.

He added: "Clearly Damien was a little boy with a lot of problems but I'm sure you would prefer to have him with his problems rather than not at all."

He recorded a verdict of natural causes.