… I have two reasons to run the London Marathon the 23^rd

April 2017, the first is for ME! As I was luckily enough to get a place
through my running club ‘Poole Runners’ and it’s a mahoosive personal challenge
that I want to complete and join the 1% of the population that has completed a
marathon!

The second reason to run is for my niece ‘Matilda’ and all the
other children living with liver disease every day.

Tilly was born on the 30^th September 2013 and at
three weeks old was diagnosed with a rare condition called ‘Bliley Atresia’ this
effects the bile duct in the liver and only occurs in one in every 10-20
thousand births. The cause is not known and there no prevention to stop this
happening as it only happens after birth, and is diagnosed by jaundice lasting
more than 2 weeks after birth.

At 5 weeks old Tilly underwent a five hour operation at Kings Hospital
called a ‘Kasai Procedure’ this is where part of her intestine was taken and
attached to her liver to create a new bile duct. Quick diagnoses is key as the
procedure need to be done within the first 6 weeks if life to offer the best
chances of success.  After 10 days in
hospital Tilly was able to come home and after a time in isolation her
operation was deemed a success and she now grown to a bubbly, full of fun 3
year old!!

Tilly had to take daily 
medication for her condition and will do for the rest of her life, and her
condition has to be monitored closely as the ‘Kasai’ could fail at any time and
there is an 80 % chance that  one day she
may need a liver transplant.

However at the moment Tilly is one of the lucky ones and I am
running  to raise awareness of this rare
and often undiagnosed early enough condition, and to thank the ‘Children’s
Liver Disease foundation’ for the help and support they have given to families
like my nieces’ and the hope that one day a cure will be found.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page and your Kind donation for the 'Children Liver Diease 'charity :-)