A nurse at the Royal Liverpool Hospital died after her colleagues told her to have her persistent cough looked at.
Anne Doran, 66, originally from Prescot, went for a check up for her persistent cough which had been flagged by her co-workers at the Royal Liverpool Hospital. She would soon be diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a rare disease that affects only 50 in 100,000 people and scars the lungs damaging the body's ability to hold oxygen.
That was in 2014 before she sadly died six years later from complications related to her illness. Her family are now campaigning to raise money to fund education and research on the disease, via the Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis charity, the Manchester Evening News reported.
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Anne's daughter, Louise Doran told the Manchester Evening News: “She was going walking, going the gym, you know she was healthy. Then this came along and at first, she wasn’t on oxygen and she could still get about.
"She was going into work coughing, and someone picked it up and said to her, 'you better get it checked out', so she did and had a lung biopsy and it was diagnosed as Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.
“Then she needed to go on oxygen and she could do less, and less and less. In the end, she’d be sat on the sofa, and just lifting her arm up or just moving one space along, the oxygen in her blood was getting lower.
“Even though she was getting oxygen, her lungs couldn’t deal with it because there was scarring to them. It’s so limiting, you can’t talk, you eat less and less.
“You end up being bed-bound and, sadly, from my mum’s experience, once you’re at that stage you probably haven’t got long left."
Currently, there are only two drugs which slows progression of the disease. Limited clinical trials exist as do lung transplants, but they aren’t available to all patients.
Louise added: “They don’t know what caused it. They asked her all of the usual questions - have you worked in a mine, have you kept pigeons, do you smoke? And the answer was no to all of those questions so they couldn’t pinpoint what it was.
“There are quite a few people that have got it and they don’t know what caused it. There’s various groups on Facebook with hints and tips for people who’ve got IPF, so they can try and support each other.
“But there’s people still struggling there now, just as much as my mum was two years ago and there doesn’t seem to have been many changes. Charities are doing research to try to find a cure, which is brilliant but the day-to-day things really could be so much better.
“It’s such a poor quality of life, it’s awful to see.”
Now, Louise and her sister Jenny have arranged a charity event in Stockport to raise money for Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis which helped their mum. They have organised an audience with author and historian Alison Weir.
The event will take place at the Guildhall in Stockport on June 30. They have also organised for an re-enactment group to appear in costume, and are hosting a raffle. Prizes include a Dyson vacuum worth £379.99 as well as signed books donated by Tracy Borman and Tracy Chevalier.
Alison will be available for book signings and will be in conversation with Dr Martin Heale, reader in mediaeval history at the University of Liverpool.
Tickets cost £10, to book a ticket for the event, click here .
