Family of Tadworth boy with severe skin condition fundraising for 'life-changing' house

Morgan Bishop, 6, suffers from eczema, red skin syndrome, asthma, a number of severe allergies and Focal Segmental Glomeruloscleerosis (FSGS) Nephrotic Syndrome – a life-threatening kidney condition.

Morgan’s persistent itching and constant discomfort means he struggles to regularly attend classes at Vale Primary School in Beaconsfield Road, Epsom Downs or get outside and play with friends – all the things a regular six-year-old boy would do.

The Bishop family set up a fundraising page called Morgan’s Mission in May last year and have so far raised nearly £50,000 for alternative therapies, vital supplements, skin creams and specialist eczema-friendly bamboo clothing.

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They are now working with an estate agent to raise an additional £40,000 for a house with a garden that would provide them with more space for Morgan to lead a normal life.

His mother Dana Bishop, who gave up her job as a family support worker to look after Morgan full-time, said: “It is completely debilitating. We can’t lead a normal life at all.

“He can’t do things like go to parties or play-dates and he rarely has friends here because he is always itching, distressed and crying.

“It strips away his personality because he is so miserable and doesn’t get any sleep.”

Morgan enjoys playing with Lego and used to love riding his bike as well as day trips with his family to Legoland and Chessington.

But his mother says he now feels too tired to do most of the things he loves.

Ms Bishop said: “When I asked him if he would like to go on a day trip to Chessington, he said, ‘I’m not a little boy that goes out anymore because I’m too tired and poorly’.

“For a six-year-old not to want to go outside and to say horrible things about wanting to die is horrific.

“He is losing his childhood, and you can never get that back.”

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The family of four – completed by brother Jenson, 2, and father Paul – live in a flat in Watermead, Tadworth.

Jenson sleeps on a mattress in his parents’ room because he finds it impossible sleep as Morgan is repeatedly woken due to his itching.

Meanwhile Mr Bishop struggles to fit in work around looking after his sons – especially because he doesn’t have a spleen and lack of sleep owing to fatigue increases his chances of getting ill.

Ms Bishop added: “We are all on top of each other here. If we were in a house we would have some space, and if we had a garden that was easily accessible Morgan would be able to get some Vitamin D and some fresh air.

“(To get our own home) wouldn’t be like waving a wand and curing him, but it would be really life-changing, and take a lot of the stress out of our daily lives.”

Sacha Martin, an estate agent at Sacha Scott in Blue Cedars, Banstead, set up the fundraising page after realising the family would not be able to afford a new house.

She heard about Morgan’s plight last year, and was moved to help the Bishop family after carrying out a valuation in January.

Ms Martin explained: “I have an eight-year-old son, Sonny, and I can’t imagine anything worse.

“Nobody likes being poorly and that poor little man, he goes through it every day, and the repercussions go throughout the whole family.

“I just felt I had to help.”

For more information, or to donate to the Bishop family’s house appeal visit crowdfunding.justgiving.com/ahouseformorgan