Story
Daisy is going to do "100 skips-a-day in May" to raise £310 (£10 a day) for Coeliac UK, and awareness for Coeliac disease, which she was diagnosed with just over 2 years ago.
Read on for a little more information about Daisy's condition, and how a donation will potentially help her and tens of millions of people worldwide.
Daisy was diagnosed with Coeliac disease in early 2022, when she was 6 years old. She went from being a happy, healthy child to having malnutrition, grey skin, and feeling constantly tired within a matter of months. Luckily she was quickly diagnosed and she has since made a full recovery.
Coeliac Disease is a (currently) incurable auto-immune disease that causes the body's immune system to attack healthy tissue, when the sufferer ingests gluten. In the short term this causes severe physical symptoms that can last hours, days or even weeks. In the long term it can cause cause serious issues such as Osteoporosis. People with Coeliac disease are also likely to develop other auto-immune diseases later in life such as types of cancer, diabetes and thyroid disease. It is estimated that 1 in 100 people suffer from the disease, although the majority of these sufferers are undiagnosed.
The treatment is to completely remove any trace of gluten from your diet. However, the journey to recovery is challenging. As a family, we have had to learn how to avoid gluten and understand the inadequacies of food packaging labelling and restaurant menus. More importantly, as an 8 year-old, Daisy has had to cope with the social impact of spending time at school, play dates, sleepovers, parties, holidays, Christmas and family days, where we can't control her exposure to gluten. As an example of how hard it is for Daisy and the people trying to support her needs, it isn't uncommon to buy two seemingly identical chocolate bars on the same day, in the same shop, from the same shelf but one has small print saying it "may contain" gluten and other does not. One would make her day, and other would make her ill. That is really stressful for her support network, and even more stressful for her.
Daisy recently insisted that she wouldn't take a cure for the disease, because it is part of who she is. However, work is ongoing to develop a cure and other treatments. With the right funding this is achievable. Not only would this help Daisy and tens of millions of sufferers of Coeliac sufferers worldwide, but it could also benefit sufferers of other auto-immune diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis and some forms of Arthritis.
Thanks for taking the time to visit Daisy's JustGiving page.
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.