Raise funds & awareness of Childhood Liver Disease

*Trigger - childhood disease*

Noah Bruce Stuart was born full term after green-pathway pregnancy, with a severe knot in his cord and jaundice.

His first few weeks of life entailed multiple Dr visits & trips to A&E due to Noah having prolonged jaundice, being in pain/ unsettled, pale stools, dark urine and swollen abdomen ; he was misdiagnosed with milk allergy and over-feeding every time.

That all changed at six weeks old when the Dr at A&E finally took bloods from Noah. Here it was noted that his 'bilirubin' was extremely abnormal. - Bilirubin is present within the blood when jaundice is evident however elements of Noah’s bilirubin indicated something more serious...

The next day, we were sent by specialists from Glasgow to Leeds General Infirmary (Child Liver Specialist hub in the UK) with suspected biliary atresia—a rare and serious liver condition.

Biliary atresia is a time sensitive disease where babies need an invasive operation before 10 weeks old in order to give them best chance keeping their own liver. Although, even after this horrific but potentially life saving operation, 2/3 of patients require a liver transplant before they hit adolescence.

Thankfully Noah's scan results ruled out biliary atresia, but, why Noah's liver was not functioning properly remained a mystery and many tests were lined up for him when we returned to Glasgow.

Since the start of his Liver Disease journey, Noah has been under the care of the incredible ‘Wee Scottish Livers’ team in Glasgow, who saw him weekly for blood tests and consultant review. The team helped guide our family through some of the worst days of our lives, coupled with uncertainty and fear that came with every appointment and hospital admission.

After almost a year of testing, there is still no confirmed reason why Noah has liver disease. The cases of childhood liver disease are on the rise, so our family have decided to be vulnerable and share Noah's story to raise awareness that childhood liver disease is real and can happen to any family.

Thanks to early care and ongoing monitoring, Noah is one of the lucky ones. Over time, his health is improving, and the space between appointments has slowly began to grow. But not every child has the same outcome.

Childhood liver disease is life-changing, and for many families, it’s a daily battle. That’s why we’re raising funds—to support children like Noah, to help families facing this diagnosis, and to fund events and research that could make early diagnosis and effective treatment possible for every child.

Please consider donating to a trio of non-runners who, stupidly signed up to a half marathon in order to spread awareness of Childhood Liver Disease and raise funds for an extremely worthy and hardworking team - The Wee Scottish Livers

Your support means the world. Thank you

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Happy to any questions on our experience childhood liver disease

For more information please visit the child liver disease website.