A MUM has shared the heartbreaking reality of watching her nine-year-old daughter battle 'crippling' OCD and anxiety.

Melanie Payne has described how the debilitating symptoms have taken a grip of her daughter Emily and have forced her to miss large chunks of school.

The Victoria Academy youngster suffers from PANDAS, which stands for paediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcus.

This is when the immune system, instead of fighting bacteria, attacks a part of the brain, which is responsible for motor and learning functions, emotions and behaviours.

“The past three months she’s deteriorated significantly,” said Mrs Payne, of Baysdale Close, Barrow.

“She suffers from crippling OCD. It consumes everything she does. Every waking minute is taken up with OCD intrusive thoughts.

“From the clothes she wears, what she eats, what she drinks, what and how she says things and how she breaths.

“It’s very distressing for her.

“She also has really severe vocal and motor tics which is a recent thing.”

For the last four years Emily has been coping with ‘consuming’ OCD, intrusive thoughts, anxiety, and more recently vocal and motor tics.

This has caused her to miss a lot of school, affects her sleep and has resulted in her being prescribed anti-psychotics and antidepressants to help control her symptoms.

As a result of her daughter’s deterioration Mrs Payne began a fundraiser to get Emily the specialist care she desperately needs.

The Mail: FAMILY: Emily and Melanie Payne

Although the NHS are able to diagnose PANDAS, awareness and knowledge on the condition is extremely limited and she is hoping Emily can receive care from a private doctor in London who is a specialist in the field.

“I am very grateful for all the help Emily has received from the NHS doctors but unfortunately the research into PANS and PANDAS is lacking behind other countries and certain treatments are unavailable in the UK,” said Mrs Payne, a secretary.

“So we decided to go down this route, a lot of other children with the condition were seeing private consultants to try and get a management plan and treatment.

“She’s been poorly for so long and deteriorated so much we thought this was our only remaining option.”

Emily’s condition has had a massive toll on the family with Mrs Payne and her husband Lee having to reduce their work hours because Emily cannot attend school full time.

But she says they feel more hopeful now that they have managed to raise so much money.

“It’s very stressful. Her older sister Scarlett sees what Emily is going through daily and that affects her,” said Mrs Payne.

The Mail: SISTERS: Emily and Scarlett

“But we’re a strong family and now we have a lot of money in the pot we’re quite hopeful we can get the appropriate care for her.

“We’ve been living with this for four years so it’s become our norm. There are times when it is stressful.

“It would mean everything to reach our goal, hopefully Emily would be able to live a normal life because at the moment she’s consumed by terror and worry.”

So far £7,000 of the £10,000 target has been reached and the family say they have been ‘blown away.’

“It’s been amazing we’re completely blown away by everybody’s kindness and generosity,” said Mrs Payne.

“We were not expecting it to take off like it has.”

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