Bethany is our bubbly, funny, kind and thoughtful youngest daughter. After many months of suffering with severe breathing difficulties which was managed with drugs to keep her airway open, she was finally diagnosed in March 2016 with a rare disease – Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis Vasculitus. Soon after she was accepted on a trial programme for a new treatment which could possibly put the disease into remission at Alder Hey hospital.

GPA is a systemic, inflammatory, autoimmune disease which attacks certain organs such as the sinuses, throat, lungs and kidneys, inevitably shutting them down. Without treatment, the prognosis is poor and life limiting. The disease has also caused other problems such as enlarged thyroid.

Beth was out of school for a year and even now is regularly in hospital or off sick. The diagnosis was devastating for a young 14 year old girl who had to listen to the doctors while they explained what the disease was doing and could do to her body. We were told that there was no drug/cure available on the NHS.

There is now an increasing amount of research to suggest that environmental factors play a big part in contributing to GPA. We are therefore also teaming the medical trial with a privately-owned medical centre specialising in environmental medicine, which includes identifying the cause such as viruses and other pollutants which may have contributed.

Dr Monro is a specialist in her field and has focussed on this area for much of her career successfully treating a wide variety of autoimmune diseases, using certified laboratory tests worldwide to detect and address underlying viruses, infections and nutritional deficiencies, and by using low-dose immunotherapy as a foundation for rebuilding healthy immune systems.

Our goal is to raise enough money to be able to get our gorgeous girl into remission so that she can do all the things that teenagers want to do.