OVER 150 UK LANDMARKS SHINE A LIGHT TO COMBAT THE #1 CAUSE OF ACQUIRED HEART DISEASE IN CHILDREN!

What if there was a serious children’s illness that was a more common reason for young children to be hospitalised than measles…. More common and just as serious as some forms of meningitis – you’d want to know about it if there are children in your world, wouldn’t you?!

A simply huge awareness campaign is underway across the whole of the UK, to shine a light on a serious, increasingly common but little-known children’s illness – and to let you know you **need to know** Kawasaki Disease.

A staggering 153 landmarks, bridges and iconic buildings in every part of the U.K. will light up in *red* on 26 January to mark International Kawasaki Disease Awareness Day!

The staggering number of landmarks taking part, will bring urgently needed awareness of this too-often devastating disease to our communities, thanks to the support of building and landmark owners aross the UK. Societi, the U.K. Foundation for Kawasaki Disease has coordinated this campaign with a huge amount of support including from supporters, building owners and local authorities – it’s our biggest light-up campaign yet and we have been campaigning throughout January to make sure that every parent and every doctor knows Kawasaki Disease.

Societi Foundation is working to combat poor awareness, as currently about a quarter of children affected by Kawasaki Disease go on to have serious, lifelong heart damage. This has been linked to delay in recognising and treating the disease – and more needs to be done to ensure doctors and parents know and can recognise the symptoms.

Kawasaki Disease can be fatal too, and Societi is campaigning to help ensure no more children’s lives are lost to Kawasaki Disease.

Local families with children affected by Kawasaki Disease have worked with Societi to make sure our local landmarks light up – knowing just how important it is for everyone to know this disease! With early diagnosis and treatment, most children will make a good recovery.

Professor Robert Tulloh is a paediatric cardiologist and Chairman of Societi Foundation and is an expert in Kawasaki Disease. He said “Early diagnosis and rapid treatment reduces the risk of children with Kawasaki Disease suffering from devastating heart damage ⁽¹⁾. Awareness of the signs and symptoms in the UK will help significantly with this, so this campaign will make a difference to children who are affected.”

Rachael McCormack, Founder of Societi Foundation said: ‘We are thrilled that  so many landmarks will be shining a light on Kawasaki Disease and we are extremely grateful to for the huge amount of support we have received. Despite Kawasaki Disease being increasingly common, low public awareness means it’s often initially misdiagnosed, putting children’s hearts at risk. We NEED families to KNOW Kawasaki Disease so we can reduce the number of children suffering the devastating effect of serious, lifelong heart damage. We are so grateful to the huge number of landmarks across the UK that are lighting up for International Kawasaki Disease Awareness Day. They really are helping us to protect children’s hearts, and that is just amazing”.