What the... Hiccups cause teen angst? | Hiccups cause teen angst? |
| Written by FoxNews.com | |
 ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The 15-year-old girl whose marathon case of hiccups made international news earlier this year has apparently run away from home, police said Monday.
Jennifer Mee's struggles with chronic hiccups — up to 50 times a minute for months — made her an Internet sensation and darling of morning television news shows, who aggressively fought to book the ninth-grader for interviews. The hiccups that forced her out of school have only been sporadic recently, said her mother, Rachel Robidoux. Robidoux said Mee was upset after a disagreement with her stepfather over a Myspace.com account they didn't know about. They disconnected her cell phone service as punishment. "She was upset, but nothing more than any other time she didn't get what she wanted," Robidoux said Monday afternoon. "We have not heard from her. We've been making call after call after call, looking for places she might go. I just don't know." Mee's sister last saw her at about 8:15 p.m. Sunday at a park in north St. Petersburg. A friend's mother found her at their home about 10 or 10:30 p.m. Sunday and made her leave, Robidoux said. Mee's mother reported her missing at 7:05 a.m. Monday. "She didn't take clothes with her. She didn't take a pocketbook with her," Robidoux said, adding she hopes her daughter is just upset and hiding from them. "As awful as it sounds, that's what I'm hoping. I can't think about the possibility she is somewhere against her will. "I really want her home," Robidoux said, her voice shaking. Robidoux said a police detective advised her not to make a radio announcement because 18 sex offenders live near their home. But St. Petersburg police spokesman George Kajtsa said the agency does not consider Mee endangered. "We are actively looking for her, like we do with every runaway child," Kajtsa said. According to the National Institutes of Health, hiccups are caused by involuntary contractions of the diaphragm, which causes vocal cords to briefly close, which makes that distinctive hiccup sound. They can start for no reason or be triggered by anything from spicy foods to stress. |
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