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Home Improvement Worth £40,000 Raffled Off To Raise Funds For Kids Losing Eyesight

Home Improvement Worth £40,000 Raffled Off To Raise Funds For Kids Losing Eyesight

Lucy and Mike Carroll are raising money for treatment that may combat Batten Disease to help their two children and others like them

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

A home improvement worth £40,000 is being raffled off to raise money for children facing eyesight loss through a rare, fatal disease.

Lucy and Mike Carroll are raising money for treatment that may combat Batten Disease - a group of disorders affecting the nervous system, which are also known as neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses, or NCLs - to help their two children and others like them.

Their nine-year-old son Ollie was diagnosed with the ultra rare CNL2 Batten Disease in February 2015, before his little sister Amelia, seven, was also diagnosed just one month later at the age of two.

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Dad Mike said: "Unfortunately Ollie is now blind, so there's no treatment that will help him. It can't be reversed.

"So what we need to do is we need to save Amelia's eyesight, and we have got this chance now."

Lucy added: "The disease basically rips children of all their abilities - the ability to walk, talk, swallow, their sight, it causes seizures, movement disorders. The list is just endless."

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According to the Carrolls' fundraising campaign, in September 2019, an enzyme therapy treatment became available after a long legal battle.

While the treatment stabilises the condition, the drug cannot cross the blood brain barrier - meaning children will still eventually go blind.

Experts at Great Ormond Street Hospital are now hoping to move forward with a new compassionate programme, which will see them use the same treatment to inject into the eyes of children with CNL2 Batten Disease.

To help raise £250,000 for the hospital, the family have teamed up with tradesman friends to raffle off building services, including a £40,000 home extension, a new kitchen installation worth up to £10,000 and a new bathroom or driveway/patio, each worth up to £5,000

An example of the kitchen extension you could win.
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James Rudd, of JS Joinery and Building Ltd, said: "Mike sent us all a WhatsApp message out to 60-70 people on the group. Probably 60-70 percent of the people on that group are builders or in the building trade in one way or another, so the idea was pretty much staring us in the face."

Raffle tickets cost between £10 and £30 each, depending on the product you're entering for, with more than 280 already bought to total more than £9,500 of the £140,000 target.

A description on the campaign's page explains: "Together, we need to raise £250,000 to enable professionals at Great Ormond Street Hospital to move forward in setting up a new clinical trial/compassionate use program, to use enzyme therapy directly into the eye of children with CNL2 Batten Disease.

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"If successful, this treatment could slow or even prevent the loss of eyesight in children battling Batten Disease.

"Without this trial, Amelia will lose her eyesight and time is not on her side, this time next year may be too late."

To enter the raffle, your property must have a SK (Stockport) postcode.

The extension design will be discussed once the winner has been awarded, with the option to increase the budget with your own money if you wish.

Find out more about the raffle and buy a ticket here.

Featured Image Credit: Big Jobs By Big Hearts

Topics: UK News, News