Not many people know this as it has an been extremely hard time for us as a family but even more so for my brave sister and her amazing husband, who sadly lost their baby boy at 36 weeks pregnant on 04/10/2017. My sister contracted a very rare condition called 'Acute Fatty Liver in Pregnancy' unfortunately due to the rarity of this condition it has gone unheard of especially with pregnant woman, the main reason for my fundraising is to raise awareness of this virus as I do not want anyone to go through what they have been through this past month.

Unfortunately this all happened very quickly and baby Ailbe died, spreading the virus to Emma and nearly killing her as well, if it wasn't for Kettering General Maternity quickly operating on her and performing an emergency c-section Emma would have also died. Thankfully she never and is still here today giving us all hope, David still very fortunately has his wife due to the quick action and response taken by the staff on the maternity ward. Kettering General have been amazing throughout supporting my sister and her husband and also allowing us all to say goodbye and spend precious time with our baby Ailbe a son, a grandson and a nephew.

Acute fatty liver of pregnancy is a rare complication that occurs in the third trimester, only affecting 1 in 20,000 woman, it is more common in first pregnancies, baby boys and twins. Early diagnosis of AFLP sometimes can be difficult because it shares features with other common conditions such as pre-eclampsia, viral hepatitis and cholestasis of pregnancy. The main symptoms are nausea and vomiting , lack of appetite , abdominal pain and indigestion , non-specifically feeling unwell , excessive tiredness , jaundice – a condition in which the whites of the eyes go yellow and, in more severe cases, the skin also turns yellow and excessive thirst.

I will be doing various things to raise money for Kettering General Maternity Ward. I just wanted to set this up now to start raising awareness of this very rare virus and help other woman so no one has to go through what my sister has been through.