Aria's mission is run by her loving family. Her story shows how mitochondrial disease can affect many different systems in the body, and how symptoms and a diagnosis can come seemingly out of nowhere.
Aria was born a happy and healthy baby with no complications on 10th November 2023. As she grew, we noticed that she was starting to get quite chubby, especially in her belly. Although it wasn’t a huge concern, it seemed abnormal.
One day, when Aria was nine months old, she went to her grandma’s seeming perfectly fine, but the next morning she woke up with a dry nappy and seemed lethargic, both of which were unusual. We decided to pick her up and head to the hospital, and called 111 on the way, not realising it was quite as much of an emergency. They told us to pull over and tell them our location so they could send an ambulance, but in the end, we realised it would be quickest to drive there ourselves.
The staff at Sheffield Children’s Hospital saw her very quickly and agreed that something wasn’t right.
She also had a nodular liver. That night, she was sent to the PICU and put onto high flow oxygen as the fluid was preventing her breathing properly. The next day she was given a feeding tube and transferred to a Leeds-based liver specialist.
It was so difficult not being able to travel with Aria from one hospital to the other. Once she arrived, doctors began taking bloods and investigating how to get her fluid levels down. They gave her medications for her liver and carried out more scans which showed that her liver was in severe cirrhosis and only functioning at 60% of its capacity. Biopsies then revealed signs of mitochondrial dysfunction in her muscles.
The doctors were quickly certain that it was mitochondrial disease, which we’ve since learned is rare – often mito is much more difficult to diagnose.
…which resulted in Aria having mito. This gives any other children we have together a 25% chance of having mitochondrial disease also.
We spent three months in three different hospitals, and we’re thrilled Aria’s back home now – as is she! Her time in hospital resulted in some developmental delays and osteopenia, and she had a tumble from the sofa that gave her two broken ribs and fractured the top of her foot trying to walk! Her attitude hasn’t changed though – she’s a sassy girl who knows what she wants and gets it!
She loves Bluey, especially Bingo, and her favourite song is Icky Sticky Bubble Gum by Ms Rachel – she gets us to clap our hands and join in whenever it’s on.
We were told that her variant of mito could affect her heart, lungs and brain in future, as well as how it affects her liver now. Thankfully, her MRI and heart tests came back looking normal for now.
…with Aria’s Mito Mission. None of us had ever heard of mito, and even when we googled Aria’s variant, nothing came up aside from medical research papers.
…and understand its wide range of impacts.
Our families already have some brilliant ideas on how they’re going to use the mission to raise awareness and possibly some funds for mito, and we’re so excited!
Any funds raised by Aria’s mission goes to My Mito Mission’s
central funds to be granted towards research and support projects
to benefit everyone affected by mito.
Spreading the word, following, sharing, as well as donating and raising funds are all really helpful and valued. From running a race to holding a bake sale, hosting a collecting can to giving out Aria’s Mito Mission leaflets – there are so many ways in which you can get involved.
If you’d simply like to donate to Aria’s mission, choose a way that suits you below.
Regular donations are the most powerful way to support our vital work, allowing us as a small, high-energy charity to plan and build from a strong foundation.
We need a 1000 strong team of amazing people to donate any amount from just £2 a month. 1000 is a lot, but – one by one – we know that we can reach it. Find out more here.
For any other amount or frequency (eg weekly, quarterly, annual), simply contact us
We’d love your support with our fundraising… and we can provide supporting materials. Just ask!
Set up a fundraising page (Use the orange ‘Fundraise For Us’ button)
Set up a Facebook fundraiser by clicking above and searching for 'My Mito Mission'
Download a sponsor form to print off by clicking the image above
Support materials such as buckets, cans, leaflets and more
Ask anyone you know to have a Change Box, Small change - Big difference!
Fundraise and shop!
Find our ebay shop easily by clicking 'Save seller'
Visit our second hand clothing shop and follow our account
Support us by purchasing something from our Amazon Wishlist
Support us for free at 100s of stores - click the ‘Find your charity’ button
Click the heart under our charity number to set us as your favourite charity
Other ways you can support us
Nominate Aria's mission for support at your work or club
Collect saleable, used items that we can sell in our ebay shop
Check out the merch in our shop to raise awareness and funds
Let us talk to your organisation about our cause
Come to our events and help us raise vital mito awareness and funds
Visit our Support Us page for more inspiration!
