Brit sisters’ incurable disease could kill them at any second

LONDON - Three sisters in Britain are suffering from an incurable heart condition that could strike them at any time.

Chloe, Courtney and Melissa McAllister, aged 13, 12, and eight, suffer from Long QT Syndrome, a disease that can be hereditary, and affects about one in every 10,000 people.

The three girls were diagnosed with the disease, which causes irregular heartbeats and can lead to sudden death, after Courtney had a seizure at the age of five.

Doctors at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow had at first thought it was epilepsy but after an ECG test was conducted on her heart it showed she had Long QT Syndrome.

Tests were carried out on Chloe and Melissa and both were found to have the illness, which doctors believe they inherited from their mother Sharon, who died at the age of 23 in February 2002 when Melissa was just five weeks old.

“I was tested and I’m not a carrier of the condition, so it must have come from Sharon’s side of the family,” the Daily Mail quoted their father Stephen as saying.

“It was very distressing when they were all diagnosed. Melissa found it very hard to deal with, especially when the doctors told us that is what had caused their mother to die.

“The attacks can happen when they are sleeping so I’m constantly getting up in the night to check on them,” the stay-at-home father added.

Courtney had a heart monitor fitted in April this year as she is in a more serious phase of the condition, and the other two may also have to be fitted with one.

The girls are on medication and have to be careful not to over-exert themselves as it could cause their hearts to go into a fatal spasm.

“Long QT is an inherited condition and for all three girls to have it is extremely unlucky. It’s like a ticking time bomb,” the Children’s Heart Federation stated. (ANI)