The mother of a three-year-old Selsdon girl born with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is backing a campaign by the disease's leading charity demanding the screening of all newborn babies.
Susan Rosman's daughter Grace was born with the deadly disease, but was not diagnosed until she was two-and-a-half years old.
Despite constant chest infections, lack of weight gain and numerous hospital visits, doctors failed to diagnose Grace with CF.
Susan, from Elm Park Gardens, said: "The disease is incurable but the symptoms can be controlled with antibiotics and inhalers. If Grace had been diagnosed earlier, it would have taken away the anxiety of just not knowing what was wrong. Babies are tested for other things at birth, why not this?"
It is two years since the Cystic Fibrosis Trust (CFT) first pleaded with health authorities to introduce screening programmes for the life-threatening disease. But to coincide with Cystic Fibrosis Week, which started on Monday, the Trust has launched its Fair Care For All campaign. Trust chief executive Rosie Barnes said: "We have the support of doctors, parents, the general public and CF specialists. Hundreds of children have suffered unnecessarily because their local health authority does not offer screening for CF."
A spokesman for Croydon Health Authority said: "This is clearly something which needs to be looked at in Croydon and we'll be speaking with the trust in due course."
For more information on CF and the campaign, contact the trust on 0181 464 7211.
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