Mother-of-two told she had 'a week to live' after suffering extreme fatigue

A UK mother-of-two who had been suffering from exhaustion for over a decade was informed by doctors she had just a week to live.

Michele Burgess had previously been told her fatigue was related to gastro problems, but after she collapsed on the way to a scan and had a seizure last year, it became apparent how sick she was.

Doctors told the 56-year-old was her liver had failed, and that unless a donor was found quickly, she could be looking at just weeks to live.

Last year, the teacher's assistant from Gloucestershire reached a point where she was so tired she could barely make it through the day, sometimes going to bed by 3pm.

"I could hardly carry on. My short-term memory started fading," Burgess told the Birmingham Mail, adding she often lost her appetite.

It was eventually determined that she had high blood pressure that was causing her liver to fail.

Burgess was placed on a 'super-urgent' transplant list and luckily, a match was found almost immediately. She learned she had non-cirrhotic portal hypertension, meaning her liver wasn't filtering and was clogged up.

"They don't really know what caused it, but I would definitely need a transplant," she said.

"Without one, I'd only have a week to live."

Since the transplant, Burgess said her health has transformed completely. She's able to exercise a couple of times a week and return to work.

Her son Luke, 25, raised money for the for the liver unit that saved his mother's life at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham by running the Birmingham Half Marathon.

Burgess can't believe how sick she was without realising it, adding: "The transformation in my health is absolutely incredible."

In Australia, there are more than 1, 400 Australian's waiting for a life-saving transplant.