When Katy was six weeks old our GP noticed that she had a bit of a squint and referred her to our local hospital.  Fast forward three and a bit years to 2018 and Katy was diagnosed with a life limiting mitochondrial disease called Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex Deficiency.  This means she is unable to derive the energy that her body needs from carbohydrates.  This has caused damage to her brain which means that she has severe learning difficulties, hearing loss, difficulty seeing and can't walk or talk.  She is however, a lively and very determined little girl with a big personality!  She has already taught herself to sit up and is trying hard to crawl and to learn to use her mini-wheelchair.  She loves music and laughing with her brother.  She will soon be having operations on her hips that we hope will make it easier for her to learn to stand and move her self around. You can keep up with Katy's exploits at www.facebook/whatkaty/

Katy needs a more accessible home so that she can move around more easily and so that we can continue to care for her at home as she gets older and heavier.  We need to adapt our garage to give her a ground floor bedroom and wet room, add level ramped access to the front and back, widen doorways and install hoists to lift her.  Katy has recieved a disabled facilities grant from our local council, but this only covers a small proportion of the cost of the works so we have a big funding gap to fill.  The house also needs work doing to it to bring it up to modern standards but we are only raising funds for work that is specifically for Katy. 

Sullivan’s Heroes is a local charity offering support and financial assistance for families raising essential funds for vital home adaptations for a disabled child, so that they can continue to care for their child at home, safely and with dignity.  We are very grateful that the charity is helping Katy to get her new bathroom and bedroom.