Eden's message of hope to others
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AN inspirational young girl is letting the world know that having cystic fibrosis (CF) is not as scary as people think.
Eden Allan, from Aberchirder, started a Facebook blog this summer to document what it is like to live with the genetic condition.
The nine-year-old will now be selling her home-made decorations at the Aberchirder Primary Christmas Fair, which takes place this Thursday, to raise funds for The Leanne Fund. This charity helps families who are affected by cystic fibrosis across Grampian and the Highlands and Islands.
Eden said: "I just thought because the Christmas fair was coming up I would make something to raise money."
Julie, Eden's mum, added: "The Leanne Fund gave us physio equipment to use at home for the last two years so Eden wanted to do something to say thank-you so last year we climbed Bennachie and we raised £2800.
"This year Eden said that she had not done a fundraiser but we were running out of time so we thought about getting a stall at the Christmas fair."
Eden was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when she was seven weeks old and said that she doesn't know any different.
The primary-five pupil regularly documents on her blog, Breathe Easy Eden, the issues in her everyday life. This includes her physiotherapy at home, the medication that she has to take and her dietary requirements. Despite all of this she said she lives a normal life.
Julie said the main reason Eden wanted to start the blog was to let parents of babies recently diagnosed with CF know that having the condition is not too scary.
Now there are new parents getting in touch with Eden on how much they appreciate the blog – with doctors in Aberdeen recommending it after diagnosis.
Julie added: "There has been parents getting in touch to say how nice it is to see how normal Eden is, because it is scary when you have a baby and you are told that they have this thing that they are going to have forever and you don't really know much about it.
"If you do Google cystic fibrosis, it is very negative so I suppose it would be nice to find out that it is not the end of the world.
"It is good that Eden wants to tell people and she wants to make folk aware because she is going to have it forever so it is better that she is open."
Another reason behind the blog, Julie said, is because people with CF cannot be in contact with each other due to cross-infection.
Julie added: "Because you can't meet people who have it as they have bugs that would not affect anyone without CF, they can be dangerous to each other, the blog is a way of connecting."
Eden loves being able to tell people about her condition and is super excited about the fact that doctors are now recommending it.
At the Christmas fair, which takes place at the school from 6.30pm to 8.30pm, Eden is hoping to raise about £50 from the sale of the decorations.
To donate go to www.justgiving.com/leannefund and for more information on the charity's work go to www.theleannefund.co.uk
