Teenager supports Angels appeal

11:12am Wednesday 3rd September 2008

A TEENAGER is backing our Guardian Angels Appeal after she was struck down with a condition that affects fewer than one in a million people and spent two weeks fighting for life in intensive care.

Charlotte Youngs has made a full recovery after suffering toxic shock syndrome – an extremely rare form of blood poisoning that can strike randomly and often results in death.

Her mum, Wendy, said Charlotte, 15, who was treated at York Hospital, was lucky to be alive after suffering heart and renal failure.

She said: “We thought we were going to lose her and I think the only reason she pulled through is that she’s extremely fit because of all the dancing she does.

“She had been into hospital to have her appendix removed, and then about four days after getting home, she developed a really high temperature that we couldn’t get down.

“When she didn’t pass urine for 24 hours, we realised there must be a problem with her kidneys and we took her into hospital.

“I don’t know how I was feeling, I was just in shock. I didn’t quite anticipate things turning out like this, with my daughter in intensive care.”

Charlotte, who lives in Monk Fryston, near Selby, was discharged from intensive care after two weeks and transferred to a high-dependency bed on the children’s ward.

There, she was attached to a vital signs monitor, which was used to check critical information such as her heart rate and blood pressure.

Two of these £11,500 monitors were donated to the Guardian Angels Appeal last year by the hospital’s Heartbeat Appeal.

Wendy, 42, who works as a practice nurse, said: “If it wasn’t for this monitor, Charlotte wouldn’t have been able to stay in York and would have been transferred to Leeds.

“She would have lacked continuity of care and we would have had to get used to different staff and explain the whole story again.”

Charlotte, who dances with the Bettany School of Dance, in South Milford, lost two stone during her illness last October and missed four months of school.

Her courage has inspired classmates at Wakefield Girls’ High School to raise £150 for The Press’s Guardian Angels Appeal by holding a nearly-new sale.

The appeal, which is now just £15,000 short of its £300,000 target, aims to fund a new state-of-the-art high dependency unit for children at York Hospital.

If you want to make a donation, send cheques or postal orders made out to The Press Guardian Angels appeal, to Guardian Angels, The Press, 76/86 Walmgate, York, YO1 9YN.