Woman spends 2 years on toilet over phobia

A 35-YEAR-OLD woman who sat on her boyfriend’s toilet for so long that her body was stuck to the seat by the time he called police had a phobia about leaving the bathroom, the boyfriend said.

“She is an adult; she made her own decision,” said her boyfriend, Kory McFarren. “I should have gotten help for her sooner; I admit that. But after a while, you kind of get used to it.”

The case drew nationwide attention after Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple said it appeared the Ness City woman’s skin had grown around the seat in the two years she apparently was in the bathroom.

“We pried the toilet seat off with a pry bar and the seat went with her to the hospital,” Whipple said. “The hospital removed it.”

McFarren, 36, said he cannot be certain how long Pam Babcock stayed in the bathroom because “time went by so quick I can’t pinpoint how long”. He said beatings she received in her childhood caused her phobia.

But McFarren said she moved around in the bathroom during that time, bathed and changed into the clothes he brought her. He brought food and water to her. They had conversations and had an otherwise normal relationship — except it all happened in the bathroom.

McFarren said he finally called police on February 27 after he became worried because Babcock was acting groggy — like she did not know what was going on.

In the bathroom police found the clothed woman sitting on the toilet, her sweat pants down to mid-thigh. She was “somewhat disoriented” and her legs looked like they had atrophied, Whipple said.

“She was not glued. She was not tied. She was just physically stuck by her body,” said Whipple.

“It is hard to imagine.”

She initially refused emergency medical services, but was finally convinced by emergency staff and her boyfriend that she needed to be checked out at a hospital.

“She said that she didn’t need any help, that she was okay and did not want to leave,” he said.

Whipple said the county attorney will determine whether any charges should be filed against McFarren.

McFarren, who works at an antique store, said he has been taking care of Babcock for the 16 years they have lived together. He insisted that he tried to coax her out of the bathroom every day.

“And her reply would be, ‘maybe tomorrow’.”

She was reported in fair condition on Wednesday at a hospital in Wichita.

Whipple said she has refused to co-operate with medical providers or law enforcement investigators.

Babcock has an infection in her legs that has damaged her nerves, and it is possible she may wind up in a wheelchair, said McFarren.