THE family of a young girl from York with a serious illness have launched an appeal to help change her life.

Eight-year-old Poppy Wadsworth lives with a congenital birth condition called cloaca, which occurs in only one in 50,000 children.

>>> Donate to the fund: justgiving.com/Alison-Wadsworth

Doctors in the United States have offered to contribute half the cost of the £100,000 operation if her friends and family can raise the initial £50,000.

The condition means several of her internal organs are not properly separated. Now, after eight years of corrective surgery - including an 11-hour procedure when she was just seven months old - Poppy has been offered a major opportunity by surgeons at the Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, who have agreed to match-fund the £100,000 operation to help her, and better understand the condition.

Alison, Poppy's mother, said she had lost count of the number of times Poppy had undergone surgery, and had no idea how long the eventual procedure would take.

She said: "This defect is one of the most formidable technical challenges in paediatric surgery. The goals of treatment include an anatomic reconstruction and achieving bowel and urinary control.

"Poppy has had a stoma bag since birth, this is the most outward sign of her condition. Her first day on earth was spent in an operating theatre and she's continually been in surgery since. Her amazing surgeons have done so much for Poppy to try to make her life as normal as possible, but they can do no more."

York Press:
Poppy Wadsworth with her mum Alison. Poppy has the rare medical condition cloaca and her family needs to raise £50,000 for an operation in the USA

Alison, a self-employed hairdresser, said cloaca was "a little word for a really big problem", and she hoped Poppy - who goes to Poppleton Ousebank Primary School - will one day be able to lead a normal life.

The condition means Poppy's rectum, vagina and urethra share a single channel.

The procedure would allow Poppy to go to the toilet without a colostomy bag, but Alison has pledged that if they do not raise the £50,000 needed, they would donate the money to Children with Hirschsprung’s and Rectal Malformations (CHARMS) - an international charity which raises awareness of conditions similar to Poppy's.

Plans are already underway for a pop-up clothes shop and a number of charity runs, and the justgiving site has already raised almost £1,000 towards the total.

She said: "I'm trying every angle to raise awareness of cloaca because it's such a rare thing. A client said to me it's not life-threatening, it's a life sentence. You can't say it more truly than that.

"It would totally change her life. She's had a bag since she was born. I know there are some things she'll never be able to do like we can but there's a way for her to live without a bag which would be much better.

"The surgeon at the LGI actually broke into tears because he was having so much difficulty attaching her bowel to her rectum and that's when he put us in touch with the USA. If it helps another child in 10 or 20 years time then that's the great thing. They can share it around the world how they have done it."