The heartbroken father of a Caister woman who died from a rare “orphan disease” has pledged to raise £10,000 for research and awareness into the condition.

Lauren Beckett died aged 28 earlier this year from scleroderma, a disease which results in the body’s immune system becoming so overactive it attacks healthy tissue.

The disease is hard to detect, and Lauren and her family were unaware that she was suffering from it when she was admitted to hospital on April 2.

Her condition worsened rapidly as the disease attacked her internal organs including her kidneys, causing acute renal failure - and she died in hospital less than four weeks later.

Family and friends have already donated £1,100 which will be used to buy equipment for the James Paget Hospital’s intensive care unit in Gorleston, which battled to save her.

Lauren’s father Philip Beckett said staff on the unit had shown exceptional care for his daughter, who worked for a number of companies in both Yarmouth and Norwich after studying at Caister High School and East Norfolk Sixth Form College.

“The staff on the unit did everything they could for Lauren and I can’t thank them enough – and I know they were completely devastated when she died,” he said.

“We miss Lauren every day – she was a lovely, kind-hearted girl who really helped her friends and family. The world has lost a beautiful and fantastic girl who we all miss greatly.”

Mr Beckett has pledged to raise awareness of scleroderma – as well as generate funds for research into the disease.

“Scleroderma is known as an ‘orphan disease’ because it affects so few people – just 12,000 in the UK,” he said.

“It’s not only rare but is random too – there appears to be no reason why someone should suddenly develop it. That’s why I want to raise money to fund more research into this devastating condition.”

He is now raising money for the Scleroderma and Raynaud’s UK (SRUK) charity and has a target of £10,000.

Already, he has a number of fund-raising events in the pipeline including a casino night in Great Yarmouth, a carol concert, a film night, cricket match and a sponsored walk.

To find out more about these events and support Mr Beckett, you can contact him on 01493 234846, mobile 07990622926 or e-mail philipbeckett62@gmail.com

For more information on scleroderma click this link to visit the website.