Meet five-year-old Ella

Ella suffers from cystic fibrosis (CF) and must undergo a daily regimen of physiotherapy to maintain her lung capacity and slow damage to her organs. This includes chest and upper abdomen patting, bubble peps, peri peps, and inhalation of hypertonic saline solution through a ventilated mask.

Ella also takes up to 30 capsules a day containing digestive enzymes that help her body absorb fat every time she has a meal or snack. Her condition brings about recurring chest infections that often require 8-hourly doses of antibiotics for weeks at a time. It is these infections that often lead to lung transplants in CF patients by late adolescence.

Researchers at the Children's Research Centre and the Cystic Fibrosis Gene Therapy Group are working to help Ella and other children like her by correcting the basic cellular defect that causes CF lung disease. By inserting healthy genes into the defective, disease-causing cells that line the airways, they hope to correct the faulty genetic information that gives rise to respiratory illness.

This technology has the potential to cure CF lung disease and increase the life expectancy of CF sufferers. If successful, it will also help Ella achieve two of her childhood dreams: to become a doctor and learn karate.

We need your help to further this exciting innovation. Please donate here to make a difference to Ella and the lives of other children with cystic fibrosis.