Bills Mito Battle (Follow us on Instagram)

Bills_mito_battle is all about raising money and awareness for The Lily Foundation and all the work they do around Mitochondrial disease in the name of Bill Percy Gornall (Aged 12)– Our Mito Warrior!

Bill is a unique little boy. In 2020 he was diagnosed with Mitochondrial Disease – MELAS. We didn’t know what it was either and Google searches just heightened our anxiety. Mito (as we call it) is a degenerative condition affecting the mitochondria in your cells which provide 90% of the energy for them to perform properly. If the mitochondria are unable to produce energy for the cell it dies and the organ the cell is supporting can fail.

We were soon forwarded the details of The Lily Foundation, the UK's leading mitochondrial disease charity and the largest charitable funder of mitochondrial research in Europe. From feeling isolated and apprehensive we have quickly learnt that we are not on this journey alone and that The Lily Foundation and the wonderful people associated with them are walking with us every step of the way. Their mission is to improve the lives of people affected by mitochondrial diseases, while working towards a future where mitochondrial diseases can be effectively treated or cured.

Bills future is uncertain as his Mito may affective him in a number of ways. What we do know is that his Mito is progressive. Today is his best day, tomorrow he will be a little bit worse. He can no longer run, ride a bike, swim, climb and play football. All the things his peers are doing he struggles to access. He can walk short distances (for now), his eyesight and hearing are OK (for now) and there hasn’t been any significant effect on his heart and brain (for now) but we are aware that this may quickly change.

Whilst we continue to build happy memories and enjoy the time we have together as a family we are committed to raising as much money and awareness as we can of the condition and the work the foundation does. We believe that through awareness and knowledge comes hope! Hope that one day there will be a cure, hope that medicines will become available to extend Bills time with us.

In the 3 years since we have started fundraising alongside our friends and family, we have raised over £50,000! 2024 is full of lots more fundraising and we hope to reach our new target of £50,000 through Just Giving (£80,000 through all channels) before the end of the year. If you have an event you would like to do and raise money in the name of Bill hit the ’Start fundraising’ button below. I will endeavour to promote your event and Bill’s progress through the #bills_mito_battle Instagram page.

And please take the time to go and look at https://www.thelilyfoundation.org.uk for lots more information.

Finally, a massive thank you to all those who have supported us and our mission, our friends and family for walking this path with us and all those who plan to raise money in bills name in the future and help change something negative into something positive.