Not despairing
- 29 Nov 06, 08:49 PM
Everyone's thoughts will be with Gordon and Sarah Brown tonight, after that their four-month-old son Fraser has .
My thoughts instantly turned to an event a couple of years ago which I attended at 11 Downing Street. It was, ironically, to raise funds for the . The star of the evening was Emily Thackray, pictured on the right with the Chancellor.
Emily is beautiful and charismatic and looks a picture of health. However, she is very ill with cystic fibrosis. When she told the assembled company that she was being considered for a transplant as "time is running out" I well recall the impact she made. Several people in the room fainted. The chancellor was visibly moved. So much so that I asked my camera crew to give him some privacy.
The good news is that two years later Emily is still with us. She was told in March 2005 that without a lung transplant she only had a year left to live but she is - I'm told - still fighting on.
The even better news is that parents like the Browns hold out real hope that a gene therapy cure will be developed which will mean that their children will never go through what Emily has suffered. Not so long ago cystic fibrosis was a disease which only children had. Now half its sufferers are adults.
No parent would want to hear what the Browns have heard but they are not despairing. Their son Fraser is lively and healthy and they will hope and pray he stays that way.
