THE mother of a child with a liver disease has praised a unique charity which offers sick youngsters a cuddly toy to remind them how brave they are for making her daughter feel "special".

Elaine McCulloch was surprised to learn a small company miles away in England had agreed to sponsor her daughter, Kayla, for a personalised Be Brave Bear to ensure she always knows how strong she has been since her diagnosis – without ever meeting her.

As previously reported in the Post, the seven-year-old was suffering from ill-health since returning from a family holiday in the summer of 2015 and underwent months of visits to the doctors before being admitted to hospital on December 2 last year.

She underwent an operation to remove a tiny part of her liver for testing and was diagnosed two days later with autoimmune hepatitis - where her immune system attacks her liver - and sclerosing cholangitis, which affects bile ducts inside and outside the liver.

Elaine said: "We nominated her for a Be Brave Bear because she has been through so much, not that you'd ever know it.

"It's a symbol of the child being brave and we wanted her to have that so she knows how proud we are of her.

"I think every child should have one. There are so many brave kids out there, I would have the whole world having one.

"Whether a child has to take medication every day or having to suffer constant blood tests – it's a great way to make them feel special.

Earlier this year, Kayla had been in-and-out of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow for weeks and her mum said her treatment there has been “absolutely wonderful” and Kayla’s school, Kilbowie Primary, had also been great.

She went on to fundraise for CLDF in order to help other kids going through a similar situation.

Her mum, Elaine, said the whole family were “devastated” by the diagnosis but helped enormously by charity, the Children’s Liver Disease Foundation (CLDF), which helped them get to grips with the conditions and explain them to family and friends.

Speaking to the Post at the time, she said: Elaine told the Post: “At first, Kayla didn’t understand why it was happening to her and why she was having to take all the medication. She was asking me why she had to go to hospital and why she had to get the liver biopsy.

“She has to take steroids and they make her puff out and she was asking me why she was fat. I told her she is not fat, that it is the medication. Some of the children at school were saying to her, ‘we can’t be your friend and we can’t be near you because you’ll pass it on to us'."

She added: "You don’t know these things are out there until you need them. Kayla’s now so positive. She might need a liver transplant in the future - it could be 20 years or 40 years' time - but she says now, ‘Even if I do need a new liver, it’s fine’. She’s accepted it.”

To find out more about Be Brave Bears, visit bebravebears.co.uk.