A WOMAN who is battling kidney failure, and has fought sepsis twice and liver failure, has raised thousands of pounds for a children’s charity.

Lannette Lusk, 60, from Steeple View, Basildon, chose to support Make A Wish after seeing an advert for the charity. She told how aged 26 she was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and has been under Basildon Hospital, St Barts in London, The Royal London, and the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead ever since.

She said: “At the age of 49, I was diagnosed with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, a serious form of liver disease. I was in total shock, I didn’t smoke, barely drank, I was horrified.

“I was referred to a specialist Doctor O’Bierne at the Royal Free Hospital, he said it was too early to be transplanted, plus I needed a lot of tests.

“I was very ill in between, and had sepsis many times, pneumonia, and fatigue.”

In August 2013 she was put on the transplant list but then, due to infections, she was removed from the list.

In February 2014, Lannette was put back on the list and the next month, the Royal Free Hospital called saying they had a potential donor.

She had the operation but then discovered she had kidney failure and contracted sepsis again.

Lannette said: “I’m now in kidney failure and can no longer have dialysis or a transplant.

“I decided to have a party for my big 60th birthday. I started planning it in April last year and I thought I could raise money for children who are sick.

“I came across this photo of a beautiful child who was dying of liver disease, and they had made a wish.

“It made me so sad, but I had made up my mind that Make A Wish would be my charity.

“I so wanted to make a child get their wish, and to put a smile on their faces.

“We held the event on July 20 and we had lots of cupcakes and everything was decorated in lilac, my favourite colour and yellow, my late husbands favourite.

“We had people donate the balloons, banners, light up decorations, everything matched it was perfect.

“My nieces sold raffle tickets and in total £2,034.71 was raised for make a Wish Uk.

“I’m over the moon.”

A spokesman for Make A Wish said: “A huge thank you to Netty for helping to make wishes come true for poorly children by fundraising for her birthday.”