JUST 10 hours without food could be fatal for pretty little Kira Hurst.

She suffers from an incredibly rare genetic disorder that means if she does not have regular meals she could fall in to a coma.

Just one in 20,000 babies are born in the UK with the condition, called MCADD, which was only discovered in 1982.

It means Kira's body lacks an enzyme that helps turn fat into sugar. Normally if people go without food for a while, the body starts to break down fat reserves to use as energy but Kira cannot do this.

So if the four year old gets a tummy bug and begins vomiting or doesn't want to eat she has to have a special carbohydrate drink.

If her blood sugar drops too rapidly and she shows signs of slipping way, mum Paula Brownhill, 28, and dad Kane Hurst, 32, have to rush her to Tameside hospital to be put on a drip.

The first time this happened Kira was 18 months old.

She had been ill all day with a virus when she suddenly flopped in her mum's arms and the colour drained from her face.

"I thought she'd died right there in my arms," said Paula, of Curzon Road, Ashton.

At hospital fluids had to be given via her legbone because all her veins had collapsed.

Two days later she was sent home after making a full recovery and shortly after that the family were told she had MCADD.

The disease is manageable as long as mum and dad keep a close eye on what Kira eats, but they need a hospital on hand just in case anything goes wrong.

That's why they are supporting our campaign to keep Tameside Hospital's children's unit open.

Paula said: "We only live round the corner from Tameside and they know her and are really good with her. They're brilliant.

"When she was ill all the time and we had to keep taking her in, the doctors didn't all know what was wrong with her because it's such a rare condition.

"We had a hard time persuading them she needed to go on a drip."