#Charliesfight reaches £500,000 in donations.
So if you have been on facebook or twitter over the past week or so, you may have seen the hashtags #CharliesFight, #savecharlie or #savealife, all floating around, well here's why this campaign is an important one.
Who is charlie?
Charlie is the 7-month-old son of Connie and Chris Yates. He was born on 14th August 2016. For the first 8 weeks of Charlie's life all seemed well, but then Charlie saw his health decline. Since then Charlie and his family have not seen much of their home, now Charlie is on a ventilator to help him breathe.
Charlie has a rare condition called mitochondrial depletion syndrome. Both Charlie's parents are a carrier of a faulty gene.
What is mitochondrial depletion syndrome?
MDS is caused by a disruption in the mitochondria, the part of the cell that produces energy to the muscles, kidneys and brain. The condition itself refers to a group of autosomal recessive disorders, which cause affected tissue to suffer from a significant drop in mitochondrial DNA. These syndromes affect tissue found in the muscle, liver or both muscle and brain. The condition is mostly fatal to infants and early childhood, but it has been known for Children with the condition to live into teenage years and even adulthood. Currently, there is no cure but medication can ease some of the symptoms.
Charlie is only 1 of 16 people diagnosed with this condition.
So what is #charliesfight about?
When Connie and Chris found out about Charlie's condition they contacted doctors from all over the world, to find an answer and some way of helping their little boy. Hope came when a doctor in the United States accepted Charlie into his hospital, to have some medication that could potentially save his life.
Thier is also a new treatment called Nucleoside bypass therapy, that could repair the faulty DNA inside Charlie allowing him to lead a normal healthy life. To get this potentially life-saving treatment, however, Connie and Chris need money, and as they can't afford to front the high price, they set up a gofundme account in order to raise the £1.2 million needed.
As of writing this article, it stands at £562,042.
They, however, need to raise this money by the 3rd of April, as Great Ormond Street Hospital, where Charlie is are taking the family to the high court in order to gain permission to turn off Charlie's ventilation, which will result in his death.
However, if the parents can raise the money needed, Charlie could get this potentially life-changing treatment, but it's not just Charlie the parents are thinking of, they believe that if the treatment for Charlie is a success this could potential help more children diagnosed with this horrible condition.
How to help #savecharlie.
Go to the go fund me page here #savecharlie. Every donation helps.
Use hashtags #Charliesfight, #charliesarmy and #savealife to talk about this and spread the word.
