Louisa Ball's life is no fairy tale, but the Worthington, England, girl gets a lot of beauty sleep thanks to a disease called Kleine-Levin Syndrome, where sufferers can fall into deep sleeps that can last for weeks, according to the Daily Mail.

She was diagnosed with the disorder in 2008, while recovering from a severe bout with the flu.

"She was exhausted and didn't seem to be getting any better. She started to fall asleep at school and was rambling about things that didn't make sense -- just like she was talking in her sleep," mom Lottie Ball tells the Mail. "It really scared us, we didn't know what to do. It just didn't seem like Louisa was the daughter we used to know -- she was like a different person."

The teen was sleeping for 10 days at a time and her parents were waking her up to eat and use the bathroom, according to the newspaper. Eventually, after being referred to several doctors, Louisa was diagnosed with Kleine-Levin Syndrome.

The disease is a form of rare periodic hypersomnia, which means those who suffer from it endure bouts of prolonged sleep. It generally affects males more often than females, and generally disappears in adulthood. The cause is unknown, but some believe it may be related to a malfunction in the hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls sleeping and appetite.

Between these episodes of prolonged sleep, Louisa functions as any other teen would: She attends school, goes on holiday and enjoys dance classes. But the disease has caused her to miss out on both schoolwork and dance competitions. She recently started a new medication that her parents hope will help to better manage her sleeping patterns.

"It does look promising," her father, Richard Ball, tells the Mail. "She hasn't fallen asleep properly for about seven weeks now so we are hoping it will reduce the severity of the attacks and allow her to get on with her life."

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