Youngsters fundraiser to help terminally ill child
CHILDREN at Lancaster University pre-school are fundraising to give a special friend with a rare genetic condition a better life.
Toddlers and adults at the centre are selling cookies and cakes as part of an appeal to raise 100,000 to give ex-pupil Nicholas Robinson an improved quality of life.
At 14 months old Nicholas had been living happily with his mum Stefanie at Lancaster University while she was studying social care.
In October 2005 their lives changed forever. Nicholas (below) was discovered during the night hunched over and struggling to breathe. He was taken to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary but doctors were baffled by his condition. After being tranferred to Pendlebury Children's Hospital in Manchester, months of tests suggested Nicholas had Alpers disease – a recessive disorder which causes the cells of the brain to die.
Stefanie was told Nicholas may have only weeks to live.
In February 2006 Nicholas finally went home to his grandparents in Great Harwood. It is here the appeal was launched to raise 100,000.
Grandmother Sandra Robinson said: "It is 24-hour care now. We can't go into the kitchen to make a brew without leaving someone to watch him. He is terminally ill, but there will be others that can use the help of these charities."
The 100,000 will go towards a purpose-built, ground floor extension to contain Nicholas' specialist equipment and a 10 per cent donation to Derian House Children's Hospice and the Rainbow Trust.
For more information or to donate go to www.theNicholasappeal.co.uk
angela.kirk@lancasterguardian.co.uk
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