Her doctor is amazed at her commitment. "People with liver disease don't take part in these runs," says Clare. "At every hospital appointment the doctors can't believe I'm running. But this disease has brought out my fighting spirit. Taking part means so much to me because I've had so many challenges this last year."

Clare was 28 when she was diagnosed with Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) after 18 months of feeling unwell. "The first sign I had was that I was really itchy," she says. "An uncontrollable itch, so bad I couldn't sleep. The doctors said it was probably eczema or scabies. I was putting on weight, couldn't exercise and didn't look well. I had always been physically fit. I didn't know what was wrong."

Clare was referred to a consultant at Manchester Hope Hospital. Tests showed her liver wasn't functioning properly and her consultant confirmed she had PBC. "The doctor explained it is an autoimmune disease where the body fights itself," says Clare.

"My bile ducts in the liver are slowly disappearing, because the liver sees itself as a foreign object. Everything that your liver should do, mine does the opposite. There is a stigma - people think it's due to alcohol abuse but this condition is not linked to alcohol. It can be hereditary, but no one in our family has it. It can also be caused by extreme stress - maybe it was triggered by my dad dying when I was 16."

There is no cure for PBC. After her diagnosis Clare hoped she could still start a family with husband Paul, 34, a BT sales manager. "I was told I'd just have to live my life with fatigue and try and get on with it," Clare recalls. "The doctors advised me to work part-time. We were really looking forward to starting a family but the doctor said that it would be difficult for me to conceive. He also said I might need a liver transplant.

"I left determined to just get on with it. It brought out my fighting spirit. There was no way I was going to drop to part-time hours. I decided to keep myself as fit and healthy as possible. We got a dog, Murph, and I started running. That's quite abnormal in someone with my condition."

"But the consultant said that within the next six to 12 months my symptoms would worsen and it was too dangerous to have children. I was devastated. I felt I'd done so much to stay healthy. I'd been running and tried to keep in the best shape. Now my symptoms are much worse, as the doctor predicted. I'm not the person I was. I'm extremely tired and because of that I get very frustrated.

"I still work full-time but now I come home at 5pm and get into bed. I can't plan anything - I'm just too tired. You can see the jaundice in my eyes. My liver is painful. It's hard to hear what friends are up to as I'm too exhausted to do much. When a friend tells me she's pregnant with a second child and I haven't had my first, that's hard."

Clare has been on the organ transplant list for nine months already and could be waiting for another nine months. After the transplant she will need to take anti-rejection pills for life. Without the transplant the disease will be life-threatening.

"I have dark lonely days," she says. "But then I think of how I'll feel after the transplant. I'll be a new person. I'll be able to compete properly in the Great Runs and would stand a chance of getting pregnant. I can't give in. This disease is not going to get the better of me. I've got to feel I'm in charge - that's how I cope. I'll take it one step at a time, just like when I'm running on Sunday. I want to raise awareness of organ donation and ask people to register as donors. The day I get my liver, up to eight other people will be receiving organs too. I never thought that I would need a transplant. You always think it happens to someone else."

Source: Daily Mirror

Pic: findacarehome.com