Meet Chloe who is taking on the Anfield Abseil to celebrate a birthday she feared she might not reach

After being diagnosed with meningitis at four weeks old medics feared Chloe Birchall wouldn’t make it through another night.

But the Warrington woman is 25 this year – and planning taking on the 100ft Anfield Abseil, at the home of LFC, to celebrate the milestone birthday it was feared she might never reach.

Call centre worker Chloe is undertaking the challenge to raise money for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital who carried out a life-saving operation when she was only six weeks old.

Chloe says: “When I was first diagnosed my mum was told to have me baptised because they weren’t sure I would survive until the next day.

“But thanks to the incredible care and efforts of Alder Hey I did.”

She adds: “Although the initial target has been set for £900, I’m hoping to raise £2,500 to mark my 25th birthday in 2025. It feels like a big milestone to me, and something to celebrate. 

“The abseil will be daunting but exciting too, and I still feel very lucky to be here and make the most of the life I have because of Alder Hey.”

Everything had seemed okay when Chloe, from Penketh, was first born, but at four weeks old she had a seizure.

She was rushed to hospital where a series of tests revealed meningitis – and mum Carol was warned to prepare for the worst.

“They didn’t think I was going to live.

“I was transferred to Alder Hey as soon as I had been stabilised, but I became seriously ill,” says Chloe. “As well as other issues, I developed hydrocephalus where cerebrospinal fluid builds up in the brain causing increased pressure. 

“There was an extreme risk that even if I survived I could be deaf, blind, or in a wheelchair.

“I was given intravenous antibiotics to treat the viral infection, and I was fitted with a shunt two weeks later to help drain the fluid that was building up in my brain.

“The operation took 17 ½ hours and think I was one of the youngest people in the North West to have been given a shunt at that time.

“I was in Alder Hey for about a year while doctors worked to clear the infection and monitor my condition after I had the shunt.”

The shunt which continued to drain the fluid that built up in Chloe’s brain has had a significant impact on her life.

Aware that a bang to her head could cause a blockage, Chloe was told that she couldn’t take part in contact sports because the risk was too great: “Which was hard when I have a big family of rugby fans and my mum played hockey,” Chloe admits. “Even when I started school, if I slipped in the playground it would start alarm bells ringing and my mum would be called.

“I couldn’t do PE most of the time because of it, and I was bullied because I was the girl who was different.

“I became anxious about things.”

It was at university in Staffordshire where Chloe studied English Literature and Creative Writing that she began to become more sure of herself.

“We had to write an essay about something that made us unique and so I wrote about what had happened to me and my shunt.

“I learned about the mental effects of the shunt, like the short term memory it can cause – which explained why I might forget someone’s name; and I learned about the physical effects which helped me understand why my balance isn’t great.

“It helped me understand more about me and I became more confident.

“Luckily I came out of meningitis relatively unscathed.”

And she says: “I was in and out of Alder Hey throughout my life for operations and procedures, but it was never an unhappy time.

“Alder Hey is such an amazing hospital and so instead of thinking of it as dark and depressing I remember it as a place where I made wonderful memories, where I played with toys and games of snakes and ladders.

“That’s why I wanted to celebrate my 25th birthday – which I can because of them – and raise money so they can continue to do what they did for me for other children.

“I had planned to do a bungee jump but the risks to the shunt were too great, so I decided to do the abseil at Anfield stadium instead. I wanted to do something big.”

Chloe, who has had her creative work published on Amazon – Raised by Mountains, a collection of childhood stories under the pseudonym Ember Birchall, as well as poetry collections – plans to do the abseil around the end of August, between her birthday on August 4 and the September 4 anniversary of the operation that saved her life.

“I think about how different things might have been, and how lucky I am to be able to do the things I do.

“I’m thankful for my mum and friends at work and the open mic night I go to who have donated and taken part with scratchcards I’ve run to boost donations.

“More than anything I’m thankful to Alder Hey.  I’m here today, and I want to give back to the incredible hospital that saved my life.”

You can donate to Chloe abseiling Anfield stadium here.

Find out more about the Anfield Abseil here.

For the latest news in Liverpool click here.