Video: Shannon Stevenson talks to Sharon Widdowson at the charity fashion show
A Nottingham mum battling an extremely rare lung disease has backed a charity fashion show raising money for patients needing transplants.
Sharon Widdowson, 46, was diagnosed two-and-a-half years ago with Clinically Amyopathic Dermatomyositis (CADM) – an autoimmune disease which has halved her lung capacity.
The mother-of-two struggles to breath and often relies on an oxygen supply when leaving the house – Sharon is believed to be the only person in the UK with the condition.
Her friend and former work colleague, Gill Harte, organised the show at the Polish Club, Sherwood Rise, last night (March 8) to raise money for the Freeman Heart and Lung Transplant Association.
Gill hopes to raise £3,000 which will go towards helping patients, and their families, who have to travel to Newcastle for a transplant; it will go towards providing families a place to stay and giving them additional support.
Sharon said: “It’s absolutely fantastic – I didn’t realise I had so many friends and family!
“When I walked in it was quite humbling to realise that everyone has given up their evening.
“They’ve come from far and wide; some have come from Doncaster and Derby – my aunt and family have come from Chapel St Leonards, Lincolnshire, which is a two-hour drive just to be here.”
Sharon used to work with Gill at Lloyds Bank before she became ill.
Through the bank’s ‘Matched Giving Scheme’ it will match the amount raised.
Gill, 59, from Calverton, said she’ll ‘do anything for anybody if they need help’.
She said: “What more do you need than good company, nice clothes, women and a glass of wine?
“If it raises money for people who need it you’ve got to do it; for Sharon, it’s all worthwhile.”
Gill organised the event last year which raised £3,500.
The women-only fashion show featured live entertainment and a raffle draw.
Gill added: “Because I work for Lloyds Bank, and as long as members of staff participate in the event, we can use our Matched Giving.
“Each member of staff gets £500 per calendar year to do that. Over the course of 12 months, a tremendous amount of staff don’t use it. But, last night, there were four members of staff in attendance.
“Both the singers, Luke Baker and Julie Smith, they both work for the bank and myself and my daughter Kim. We’ve got four lots of £500 that we can use.”
Sharon’s condition means she will eventually need a lung transplant.
She originally fell ill as her joints started to swell and she had a chest infection – doctors told her she had Rheumatoid Arthritis and pneumonia.
Then, in December 2015, she was rushed to Nottingham City Hospital because her lungs had deteriorated significantly.
Doctors were unsure what was wrong but, after running blood tests and scans which showed her lungs operating at 50 per cent of their capacity, she was diagnosed with rapidly progressing interstitial lung disease, a complication of CADM.
Sharon previously told Notts TV News: “If I have a lung transplant, there’s a two-in-ten chance that I won’t survive the first year. If I do survive the first year, the average life expectancy is between seven and ten years.
“There’s nothing on the NHS websites because it is so rare. If you put Clinically Amyopathic Dermatomyositis into a computer, it just comes back with doctors’ papers that have been written.
“There’s not much up-to-date information out there. As far as I’m aware, there are only 85 cases in the world.”
