A BACUP schoolgirl who could die from liver failure at any moment has been treated in hospital for a life-threatening infection.

The family of Harlee-Jae Proctor, five, now have an agonising wait to see if she needs to go on the organ transplant list.

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Harlee-Jae has biliary atresia – a condition which affects around one in 15,000 children from birth and causes inflammation of the bile ducts causing damage and scarring of the liver.

Just days before she was due to tick another item off her bucket list and visit Barney the dinosaur at Butlins in Skegness she was taken ill.

Doctors thought her appendix had burst but after carrying out further tests they discovered that she had cholangitis, a life threatening infection, usually in the gall bladder.

She was admitted to the Royal Blackburn Hospital and put on antibiotics but as her condition continued to worsen she was transferred to the specialist liver unit at Birmingham’s University Hospital.

Mum Sasha said: “This was the worst that she has ever been. She was started on antibiotics but she was just getting worse and worse. She was transferred to a specialist liver unit at Birmingham. It was terrifying. She was completely out of it.

“For her to have taken such a dramatic turn for the worse was such a shock.”

The family are now anxiously waiting to find out what damage the infection has caused.

Sasha said: “Harlee-Jae was jaundice and her skin was completely yellow. A person’s normal bilirubin level – the waste product excreted in bile – is 0.5 and under. Her reading went from 5 to 388.”

During her hospital stay Harlee had tests including MRI scans and an ultrasound, which showed her right kidney is not working at all. The tests also showed she’s malnourished – even though she has daily vitamin tablets.

Harlee’s trip to Butlins to meet Barney the dinosaur was cancelled at the last minute due to her illness. The company have agreed to waive the £800 difference in price for the family to go from Friday.

And while Harlee has been in hospital, a further £2,000 has been raised towards her trip-of-a-lifetime to Lapland this Christmas.