When tiredness is the 調印する of a silent 殺し屋: As Lauren's family learned to their cost, 血 大型船 病気 vasculitis is 平易な to 行方不明になる

By Sandra Walsh

Published: 23:53 BST, 22 October 2012 | Updated: 23:59 BST, 22 October 2012

Lauren Currie was a fit and active 十代の少年少女 who loved school and had lots of friends.

She enjoyed playing ホッケー and netball, and, with her lovely singing 発言する／表明する, was 特に talented at music and 演劇.

Like any child, she 苦しむd her fair 株 of bugs, 含むing, at 13, glandular fever, but always bounced 支援する.

Lauren Currie 苦しむd from glandular fever at 13. When she developed a cough ten days before she died at the age of 15, there were no alarm bells （犯罪の）一味ing

No one was worried about her health.

But, in October 2010, she 選ぶd up a chesty cough.

When her mother Adrienne took her to the GP 近づく their home in Kilmarnock, he 解任するd it as a chest 感染 and 定める／命ずるd 抗生物質s.

The next day, the 15-year-old started coughing up 血; the GP 安心させるd the family there was no 原因（となる） for alarm, but said they should go to hospital the next day to get her checked out.

Within minutes of arriving at the hospital the next morning, the family was surrounded by a 衝突，墜落 team, who told them Lauren had 肺炎.

いっそう少なく than 48 hours later she had died.

In the 中央 of the grief of losing their only child and planning her funeral, teacher Adrienne, now 44, and account 経営者／支配人 認める, 41, received Lauren’s death 証明書.

It was only then they learned what had 原因（となる）d their daughter’s death: vasculitis ― a 条件 where the 血 大型船s become inflamed, cutting off the 血 供給（する） to 決定的な 組織／臓器s and 原因（となる）ing them to fail.

‘Lauren was such a lively, happy girl,’ says Adrienne.

‘She loved life and always had a smile on her 直面する.

'We couldn’t believe we’d lost our little girl to something we’d never even heard of.’

In fact, vasculitis is as ありふれた as bacterial meningitis, although many GPs are not as aware of it.

Around 3,000 people develop vasculitis every year. Lauren was 設立する to have a rare and 積極的な form called Wegener’s granulomatosis, which 影響する／感情s the nose, 肺s and 腎臓s.

'Lauren was such a lively, happy girl. She loved life and always had a smile on her 直面する,' said her mother Adrienne

Around a fifth of those with this form die within year and a ４半期/4分の1 are dead within five years, which is why 早期に diagnosis is 決定的な.

‘Any 組織／臓器 in the human 団体／死体 can be 影響する／感情d by vasculitis, because every one of them has a 血 供給（する）,’ explains Professor Kuntal Chakravarty, a rheumatologist at Queen’s Hospital, Romford, Essex.

‘That’s why vasculitis is known as a multi-system 病気.’

The 条件 often arises as a result of a 第２位 感染. Chronic inflammatory 条件s such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and Crohn’s 病気 are often the underlying 原因（となる）, but viral 感染s can also 誘発する／引き起こす vasculitis.

‘It can be any type of 先行する fever or 感染 which 原因（となる） inflammation in the 団体／死体, or in rare circumstances, 治療 with 麻薬s such as 抗生物質s,’ says Professor Chakravarty.

This is because the 麻薬s can induce ‘antigenic challenge’, where the 団体／死体’s antibodies interact with the 麻薬, 損失ing the inside lining of the 大型船s.

Symptoms can come on quickly, or （問題を）取り上げる to eight weeks to appear.

‘One of the most ありふれた symptoms in any form of vasculitis is tiredness, as any inflammation 原因（となる）s this,’ says Professor Chakravarty. いつかs this may be the only symptom.

同様に as 過度の tiredness, it can produce an acne-like 無分別な 原因（となる）d by inflammation of the 血 大型船s beneath the 肌.

This may or may not be itchy, and usually 影響する／感情s the upper or lower 四肢s or the whole 団体／死体.

Other symptoms to look for are 執拗な ear, nose and throat 感染s.

With Lauren’s form, 患者s can いつかs develop symptoms such as 封鎖するd sinuses or nose, and a nosebleed.

Professor Chakravarty believes the glandular fever Lauren 苦しむd at 13 is likely to have been the 誘発する／引き起こす for her vasculitis.

Her mother Adrienne says Lauren started to 苦しむ たびたび（訪れる） bugs from the age of 11.

‘She would get 冷淡なs and earaches and she’d often have tonsillitis ― but she’d soon get over them.’

Then, when she was 13, she （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する with glandular fever.

‘She’d 行方不明になるd a whole 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 of school and couldn’t wait to get 支援する there,’ says Adrienne.

However, she now seemed to succumb more than usual to any bug doing the 一連の会議、交渉／完成するs, and also 苦しむd たびたび（訪れる） attacks of tonsillitis.

抗生物質s would kill off the 感染s, but it wasn’t long before Lauren was again unwell, 普通の／平均（する）ing around one 一区切り／（ボクシングなどの）試合 of tonsillitis every two months.

She had her tonsils 除去するd and the family thought the problem would be solved once and for all.

In fact, vasculitis had taken 持つ／拘留する: Lauren still 苦しむd sore throats and also developed small lesions on her 直面する that looked like acne, but was probably the 肌 無分別な known to be a 調印する of vasculitis.

But when she developed the cough ten days before she died, there were still no alarm bells （犯罪の）一味ing.

‘When we got to the hospital Lauren was feeling やめる breathless, but she was able to walk in on her own and we didn’t think there was anything 不正に wrong,’ says Adrienne.

‘But when the nurse took her pulse and heart 率, we were suddenly taken into another room and within minutes they started 扱う／治療するing her for 肺炎.’

After a fraught 夜通し stay with 実験（する）s carried out, Adrienne and 認める were given 破滅的な news: the tissue of Lauren’s 肺s had been so 不正に 損失d that there was only a わずかな／ほっそりした chance of 生き残り.

‘It was 全く out of the blue and we were 荒廃させるd,’ Adrienne 解任するs.

‘We didn’t want Lauren to know how 本気で ill she was.

'By this time she had been taken 負かす／撃墜する to 集中的な care and when I walked in I locked 注目する，もくろむs with her but I couldn’t show how I felt, I couldn’t cry.

'She said: “What’s wrong with me?” and I said: “You’ve got 肺炎, it’ll be all 権利.”?

The tissue of Lauren's 肺s had been so 不正に 損失d that there was only a わずかな／ほっそりした chance of 生き残り

‘She was trying so hard to get herself better, using the oxygen mask to help. But she was getting very tired and sleepy.

‘The doctor explained to Lauren that she’d have to be put in a 昏睡 to be put on a ventilator and Lauren asked how long she’d? be out for.

‘She was still in no 疑問 that she’d get better and we told her she’d be 罰金 and we’d see her in a few hours. She was やめる happy with that. But she went downhill 急速な／放蕩な.

'We could see the 監視するs around her bed in 集中的な care and we knew she wasn’t going to make it. But we didn’t 推定する／予想する it to happen so quickly.’

After finding out that it was, in fact, vasculitis that had 原因（となる）d their terrible loss, Adrienne and 認める began to 研究 the 条件.

‘非，不，無 of our friends or family had heard of vasculitis, either, but when we 研究d it online we 設立する anyone of any age could get it ― that a 血 実験（する） could have 診断するd it and that is was treatable if 診断するd 早期に enough.’

Why then is vasculitis not on the レーダ of GPs?

Dr Hilary Jones, GP and TV presenter, has a special 利益／興味 in the 条件 and believes GPs should be as aware of vasculitis as they are of meningitis.

‘Bacterial meningitis is very rare, yet every GP and parent is aware of it and the tumbler 実験（する） where you check for the meningitis 肌 無分別な,’ he says.

‘Vasculitis is just as ありふれた as bacterial meningitis, yet there is not the same 認識／意識性 about it.

'While most 事例／患者s of vasculitis aren’t 致命的な, if you have Lauren’s form, it is 高度に risky and needs to be 診断するd very quickly.’

‘It’s a question of getting GPs to be aware of the symptoms ― such as 執拗な runny nose, 疲労，（軍の）雑役, 肌 無分別な ― putting them together and considering vasculitis as a 原因（となる）.’

Professor Chakravarty agrees.

‘I’d say to 患者s: if they have been on 抗生物質s for a chest 感染, for example, for 48 to 72 hours with no 改良, go 支援する to your doctor and ask to be referred on. Say to your doctor: “Could I have vasculitis?”

‘It’s important to know vasculitis is treatable if 診断するd with, for example, tailored steroid-based anti-inflammatories.

‘GPs, as first point of 接触する, need to think of vasculitis and order a 血 実験（する）, which can help in 診断するing some 事例／患者s.’

Within two weeks of Lauren’s death, Adrienne and 認める had 始める，決める up a support group and charity to help raise 認識／意識性 and 基金 研究 into 原因（となる）s of the 病気.

Lauren had been a fan of the Twilight 一連の 調書をとる／予約するs and films ― even travelling to the 首相 of one of the films ― so her parents 指名するd the charity The Lauren Currie Twilight 創立／基礎.

‘We don’t 非難する the doctors who 扱う／治療するd Lauren for not spotting her symptoms, but we do want the 医療の profession and the public to be aware of vasculitis,’ says Adrienne.

‘We 行方不明になる Lauren so much. Having her 直面する and 指名する on th e charity helps keep her memory alive.

'We think she’d have liked to know she was helping others and saving lives.’

Symptoms to watch out for:

• 過度の tiredness

• An acne-like 無分別な, usually on the 団体／死体 or 四肢s

• 執拗な ear or nose or throat 感染s
  

For 詳細（に述べる）s, see thelaurencurrietwilightfoundation.org