Daughters launch art contest to raise awareness of rare condition that took their mum

A Wigan woman whose mum died from a debilitating disease has launched an initiative to raise funds for a charity.

Louise Doran has put together an art competition which she hopes will raise vital charity funds and awareness of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Louise has been raising awareness of the condition which affected her mum Anne, who was 66 years old when she died in August 2020.

Anne suffered for years with the incurable condition which causes the lungs to scar over time. The most common symptoms include shortness of breath, dry coughing and fatigue.

She was diagnosed in 2012, and battled the illness for eight years before her death.

Last November, Louise launched efforts to raise greater awareness of the disease and the devastating impact it has on those who are diagnosed with it.

She produced a series of mugs adorned with words and phrases associated with pulmonary fibrosis, which she plans to distribute to people with large social media followings.

She hopes that by doing so, they can spur more people into supporting charities which are working tirelessly to find a cure.

She said: “People don’t realise how bad it is.

“Charities will try to put a positive slant on things, which I can understand, because for the people who have it, you need to remain positive.

“But at the same time, I think people need to understand what it is.”

Now, Louise and sister Jenny have launched an art competition to raise more money for the Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis charity, a growing community of patients, families, researchers and healthcare professionals striving to find a cure.

Having mustered the support of local businesses, the sisters are offering up some exciting prizes for interested entrants, such as gift sets, art tutorials, top-of-the-range walking boots and signed books.

The competition is open to anyone over the age of 13 and ends on April 26. To find out more about the competition, visit facebook.com/PulmonaryFibrosisAware.

Louise explained how pulmonary fibrosis limited her mum’s ability to perform even the simplest daily tasks.

“Someone at work noticed she was coughing a lot and said she should get it checked out, ” said Louise, who lives with her dad Thomas and sister Jenny.

“She had a lung biopsy and diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis.

“Initially, she was doing as much as she could, getting out and about.

“But it progressed, and in the last couple of months progressed quite rapidly.

“It got that bad that she couldn’t move on the sofa, she couldn’t walk more than three steps.

“She was on 15 litres of oxygen a day, with a mask, a meter on her finger checking her heart rate constantly.

“She was constantly connected to this tube anywhere she went in the house, even when she went to bed.

“But sometimes even that wasn’t enough. She would have to wear a mask, which made her feel claustrophobic.”

“It’s just awful. She had always done a lot, she was a magistrate, a school governor, and a manager in the NHS.

“She always went walking with my dad, and she went from all that, to not being able to walk three steps.

“There’s no cure and only two drugs available, which only slow down the progression, if you’re lucky.”

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