Alfie is chronically sick. He has Complex lll Deficiency of the Mitochondrial Respiratory Chain. There is no cure or magic medicine. Alfie will never get better. He will never reach adulthood.

Mitochondrial diseases result from failures of the mitochondria, specialised compartments present in every cell of the body except red blood cells. Mitochondria are responsible for creating more than 90% of the energy needed by the body to sustain life and support growth. When they fail, less and less energy is generated within the cell. Cell injury and even cell death follow. If this process is repeated throughout the body, whole systems begin to fail, and the life of the person this is happening to is severely compromised.

Diseases of the mitochondria appear to cause the most damage to cells of the brain, heart, liver, skeletal muscles, kidney and the endocrine and respiratory systems. Alfie suffers with muscle weakness and pain, feeding, swallowing and respiratory difficulties, development delays, hearing difficulties and susceptibility to infection.

Living with Complex lll Deficiency is heartbreaking. Alfie has good days and bad days. He doesnt have the energy to crawl and walk and at times cannot find the energy to hold his head up, eat and play with his toys. Catching a common cold can cause Alfie to have respiratory failure and he has spent many weeks fighting for his life on a ventilator. Its not fair that children suffer and die from this disease.

Together we can make a difference. Please donate towards finding a cure so that one day other children like Alfie dont have to suffer the way he is.