Danielle's transplant journey

Hi, my name is James and I am fundraising for our 14 year old daughter Danielle who has just been giving the news that her medical condition is not responding to treatment anymore and that she will now need a Lung Transplant.

Danielle's journey began on the 25/04/2008 when she was born 14 weeks premature at 620 grams. After the many highs and lows of our time in Neonatal Care Danielle was discharged from hospital after 144 days on home oxygen for her Chronic Lung Disease.

After her discharge from hospital Danielle was able to enjoy a bit life until in March 2011 we where told that Danielle has a rare condition called Pulmonary hypertension (PH) and Developmental Dysplasia of the hips (DDH) and that the PH has no cure, only limited treatment. They also where unable to treat her DDH due to the high risk of death during surgery which left Danielle requiring a wheelchair to aid mobility.

Over the years since diagnosis, Danielle's has been a frequent patient at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) where they managed to stabilise her condition where able to offer new treatments when they became available.

It was during Covid while Danielle was off school shielding that we noticed Danielle's condition start to take a turn for the worse and that when we spent a lot more time at GOSH to try to get to the bottom of why her condition is getting worse and what can be done to help. Unfortunately after extensive testing and additional treatments, we where told that the Outlook for Danielle even with treatment is not good and that the only option left now is for her to undergo a Lung Transplant at the Freeman hospital in Newcastle. The Outlook with a Transplant is not great either and her life is going to dramatically shortened either way.

We are all devastated by this news but like all the other medical challenges we have faced during Danielle's journey we are going to meet this head on and be there for her every step of the way.

Danielle is now 14 and missed out so much on life but despite all this she just smiles and gets on with life the best she can. She loves reading, Football (maily Celtic fc) , F1 (lewis Hamilton) music (lewis Capaldi,1975) and going to school when she is able to.

Danielle is starting her 4th year of high school but has missed the vast majority of this due to covid and poor health so we are hoping to raise a bit of money to help her live a couple of her wishes with her brother, sisters and close friends while she is still able to do so.

Thank you for taking the time to read.