In December 2014, Corah walked into hospital. She left in a wheelchair.
Corah in her prom gown in July 2014
Corah-Beth Slaney, a music-loving teenager from Nottingham, has life-limiting mitochondrial disease. A talented songstress from an early age, Corah was diagnosed with diabetes and epilepsy in her early teens. Although both conditions are deemed to be manageable, the doctors struggled to manage Corah’s symptoms whilst she continued to deteriorate.
After many hospital tests, she was finally diagnosed, last year, with mitochondrial disease which sadly in Corah’s case not only causes rapid health deterioration but the prognosis is terminal.
Corah in January 2015
Her condition has deteriorated to such an extent that she can no longer do anything for herself.
Her parents, Lisa and Carl Slaney, decided that they wanted to do things to make Corah smile every day and by doing so, create special memories of their beloved daughter. In January, a friend put them in touch with Sali Gray, an experienced event organiser and fundraiser, who agreed to help them and the #AChorus4Corah appeal was created.
When a video was created, telling Corah’s story, it was uploaded to YouTube and circulated via Facebook and Twitter. Thousands of people have taken Corah to their hearts.
The backing track to the film was a song recorded by Corah last October, before her deterioration, and people started to ask whether they could buy a CD of Corah’s tracks. An appeal on the AChorus4Corah Facebook page for someone with musical knowledge resulted in an offer by Electric-Bear Productions to create an EP.
‘Corah-Blu Sings For You’ is now available for purchase, with the proceeds being donated to the Slaney family, to help them care for Corah.
Edgar Winter once said “Music is very spiritual, it has the power to bring people together”, and never has this been evidenced more than in the #AChorus4Corah appeal.
This teenage songstress’ love of music has indeed united the people.
Since the conception of the #AChorus4Corah hashtag, people power has resulted in Corah meeting Jessie J and Olly Murs.
An appeal for Birthday Cards was made a week before Corah’s 17th birthday, in April, and resulted in over 500 cards arriving, from all over the world.
Corah on her birthday
Sadly Corah was too poorly to enjoy her birthday, but the outpouring of love which was evident by the beautiful personal messages in the cards, gave her parents a ray of sunshine on an otherwise dismal journey.
A challenge to #SingASong4Corah to brighten her day was eagerly seized on by people of all ages, who uploaded video clips to the Facebook page, before tagging a friend to do the same and then donating to www.youcaring.com/achorus4corah. The videos made Corah smile and in the beginning she was able to sing songs in return, which her parents uploaded, but sadly the songbird can no longer sing.
However, thanks to Facebook harnessing the power of the people, her voice lives on, through the ‘Corah-Blu Sings For You’ EP, which can be purchased from www.electric-bear.com.
