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Death by chocolate: Little Lola can't eat chocolate because it might kill her - Mirror.co.uk |
A little girl can't eat CHOCOLATE because it might kill her. Lola Raine, five, suffers from a rare kidney and liver disease which means even a small piece could POISON her. Just a mouthful of creamy chocolate would cause her potasium levels to rise, potentially poisoning her body and leaving her in a critical condition. Her worried parents discovered she had Autosomal Recessive Polycystic Kidney Disease - ARPKD - before she was even born - and were told she would need a liver and kidney transplant. And in a cruel twist of fate, little Lola lives less than 10 miles from the Cadbury factory in Birmingham, West Mids. Mum Natalie, 35, said: "If Lola ate any chocolate it would be life-threatening. "She does ask for it but she gets really upset and cries as she can't have it. She gets jealous when she sees her friends eating it. "Her kidneys can't remove waste properly, so things like potassium build up in the blood and damage her body. "It means she can't eat chocolate, chips, cereals and crisps. I tend not to bring them into the house. "She's basically on a diet of sausages, toast and plain pasta until her transplant as that's the safest food to eat. "I have to be really careful what I bring into the house because if Lola sees those things she wants them. "She's on the waiting list for a transplant but she's had two cancelled already. It would be a life-saving operation. "Her condition has got worse. She has end-stage renal failure, it it gets worse she could need dialysis. "She's always in hospital but she's very resilient. She has to go to the hospital every three months for a check-up. "When I discovered Lola had it - just like her sister Nicole - I thought 'Oh no, not again'. I was in tears, it was awful. But her sister is now doing really well and that's our hope for Lola." Her dad, Tim, 46, who works for British gas said: "It's really heartbreaking. It's harder for her because others can eat it. We can't even go away on holiday because we need to be 15 minutes away from the hospital. "I don't eat chocolate in the house but might sneak some at work." Her sister Nicole, 10, also suffered from ARPKD but after a combined liver and kidney transplant she can now eat as much chocolate as she likes. Other siblings Taylor, 8, Molly, 6, and Laice, 3, can all eat chocolate and crisps. Tess Harris, chairman of Polycystic Kidney Disease Charity, said: "It's a rare inherited condition, inherited from parents who are carriers. "It can be fatal before and after birth. It can be life threatening unless you get a kidney transplant or have dialysis. "Sufferers of it feel unwell, have tiredness. Anaemia is also a big problem and very high blood pressure can bring risk of heart disease and a stroke. "They may also need dialysis treatment as the kidneys stop doing its job removing toxins from the blood." |