A toddler with a mystery condition has only spent two weeks of the last year out of a hospital bed.
Isabella (Bella) Hesketh, from Southport, first went into hospital at six weeks of age.
Since then she has spent the majority of her life undergoing medical investigations and procedures.
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The twenty-month-old still doesn't have a diagnosis, but is due to undergo a bone marrow transplant in the next few weeks, after a difficult start to life.
Bella's mum, Lucy Porter, told the ECHO: "The doctors think it is some kind of immune dysregulatory disorder, but they can't formally diagnose her, and they've not been able to treat it successfully yet.
"Before her transplant, she has to be put in a special isolation room at the hospital, to keep her safe away from germs. She will also undergo a week of chemotherapy to destroy her bone marrow.
"Then she will have blood transfusions until the donors cells are successful transplanted and developed within her body."
The process will take many months, with the hope of providing Bella with a normal immune system, to offer her development similar to any other child.
Lucy continued: "We are extremely grateful to all the doctors, nurses and others hospital staff that have looked after Bella. It has not been an easy year but everyone has worked as hard as the can to help her.
"Despite what Bella is going through, she is a happy little girl."
A gofundme page has set up by Lucy to help with anything Bella may need over the coming months and to support the vital work undertaken by charities currently supporting the family.
Part of the page's description reads: "Isabella is a bright happy little girl who is only 20 months old, she is currently in and out of hospitals due to flare ups of her autoimmune disease, doctors think that a transplant will give her the best chance at a good quality of life and allow her to do all the things kids do, rather than be sat in a hospital bed."
