In December 2020 our daughter Rose fell ill with what we thought was just a normal bug. However, when in hospital it was discovered that her spleen was enlarged. An ultrasound was performed and it showed Rose had abnormalities with her spleen and her liver appeared to have cirrhosis. She was transferred over to a specialist liver hospital for a biopsy to try to determine a cause for the damage to her liver. 

The biopsy results revealed Rose has a rare life long condition called autoimmune liver disease, this means your body’s immune system attacks the body’s own cells. There is no cure for this but the condition can be managed with medications. However, in Rose’s case the condition has shown no symptoms and unfortunately has caused a massive amount of damage and scarring to her liver which cannot be reversed, this has caused her spleen to enlarge and develop a condition called portal hypertension. There is a possibility that she may require a liver transplant in the future

She is being very closely monitored with regular tests to make sure the disease isn’t progressing. At present, she is doing very well and appears to be responding to the medications. She’s returned to school and is back doing a couple of hours of gymnastics!! 

As you can imagine this all came as a massive shock to us all and our world came crashing down around us. We were introduced to the Children's Liver Disease Foundation when Rose was admitted to Leeds Liver Unit. Their support has proven to be invaluable! Therefore we have decided to show our support by running the Great North Run to help raise vital funds for the Children's Liver Disease Foundation. CLDF is a charity that solely exists to help fight childhood liver disease, and support family and friends affected at the same time. 

If you can, please help to support this amazing charity, even the smallest amount will make a change! Just £10 will help fund a phone call for a young person with liver disease, who will want a friendly and knowledgeable member of staff to speak to. £25 would provide six 'Yellow Alert' packs, which inform healthcare professionals on how to spot the early signs of liver disease. £50 will pay for a young person to connect with another young person with a similar condition.

COVID-19 has severely affected CLDF funding, and they are entirely dependent on donations to keep providing the life changing work they provide.

Thank you for reading!"

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