Whole community supports concert fundraiser for tragic Corah

The parents of tragic Kirkby teenager Corah Slaney who died from a terminal disease last year aged just 17 are holding a fundraising concert to mark what would have been her 18th birthday.
Lisa SlaneyLisa Slaney
Lisa Slaney

A whole community has come together to back the Raisetheroof4corah concert at Kirkby Festival Hall on September 17, which will take place during Mitochodrial Awareness Week as well as raising money for the Children’s Mitochondrial Network.

Corah’s mum Lisa said: “Corah had Mitochondrial disease and as she battled with it we found out there was no specific support network for sufferers and their families.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Lisa won Carer of the Year at the Chad pride Awards earlier this year.

Corah SlaneyCorah Slaney
Corah Slaney

Supported by her husband Carl she comforted her daughter through her final months, trying to make her life as normal as possible.

She added; “We went online and found the Children’s Mitochondrial Disease Network.

“We discovered that he founder Paul Preston is on the verge of losing his third child to it.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“He lost one child aged eight weeks and his daughter Stacy at the age of 20 on the same month we lost Corah.

Corah SlaneyCorah Slaney
Corah Slaney

“Now his 18 year old son is in palliative care.

“Hearing their story moved us so much - the network needs to be there to help other families and to pay for more research.

“Hopefully if we raise enough money for the network, in future people can find out about the disease. Everyone has heard of cancer, but this kills more children than cancer each year.

“It took a long time to diagnose Corah. We want to get more literature out there which could help people reach a diagnosis earlier. Since we lost Corah life has been an emotional rollercoaster. We are trying to turn a very negative situation into a more positive one.”