In April, the Dimmock family completed a whopping 300,000 steps to raise funds for Leeds Hospitals Charity!

They were inspired to raise funds specifically to support the Liver Unit at Leeds Children’s Hospital who have cared for 14-year-old Katie and supported their family for several years.

In November 2015, Susan’s nine-year-old daughter Katie began to suffer from bad nosebleeds. The family, who live in Cumbria, took Katie to their local hospital in Carlisle where doctors discovered that she had an enlarged spleen.

After four years of tests, scans, bone marrow and genetic testing, Katie was finally diagnosed with Portal Vein Thrombosis (PVT), where the portal vein that takes blood from the spleen to the liver is blocked only allowing a small amount of blood to the liver.

In December 2019, Katie was referred to Leeds Children’s Hospital, a three-hour drive away from the family’s home, for specialist treatment. One of the side effects of PVT is the development of varices, enlarged veins in the oesophagus which need to have bands placed on every three months to stop any bleeding.

Katie has had one variceal bleed which caused her to vomit blood and led to her being ventilated on the Intensive Care Unit.

Katie’s mum Susan said, “It was really scary when Katie suffered from the ruptured varice, I’m so thankful this happened while we were in hospital and could be given the best possible care. I had to spend a week on my own by her side while she was on the ventilator as my husband was unable to visit the hospital during COVID.”

To thank the staff who have gone above and beyond to care for Katie and support her family, the Dimmock’s decided to walk 10,000 steps every day in April to raise funds.

Thanks to their incredible fundraising efforts, Susan, her husband Stuart and daughter’s Chloe and Katie have raised over £800 to support the Liver Unit at Leeds Children’s Hospital.

You can donate to the Dimmock family’s fundraising page here https://leedshospitalscharity.enthuse.com/pf/susan-dimmock-5a54f