A SOUTHAMPTON teenager with a debilitating disease is to take on a marathon to raise vital funds for charity.

Lucy Harman was told she was "going to die" after she ended up in hospital with organ failure.

During December last year, the 19-year-old was admitted to Southampton General Hospital after months of struggling with symptoms that she said she "denied would be anything serious".

On Christmas Day, she was rushed into the hospital in the middle of the night unresponsive after losing a fight with malnutrition and dehydration.

While in hospital, she was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease, a form of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and was told she has suffered from severe internal bleeding for around three months.

Her body had stopped producing red blood cells and she was too weak to do anything. As a result, her organs began to fail.

"I was dying," she said. "I had to rely on a drip to keep my body functioning."

She was sent home on a strong immunosuppressant treatment to stop her white blood cells and immune system from attacking her healthy gut tissue.

But her body did not respond as doctors had hoped.

She said: "I ended up back in hospital fighting for my life again as I started to uncontrollably lose blood and my entire digestive system began to spasm.

"My oesophagus and stomach were too ulcerated that I threw up my feeing tube and it tore my entire GI tract to pieces.

"Luckily, since then my life has changed massively, I am currently undergoing a second intense immunosuppressant treatment, called Ustekinimab and it has worked miracles.

"For the first time in almost half a year I am eating again, I was able to get back to uni for the final week after missing two whole terms and am living a relatively normal life while I am not in a flare up."

However, Lucy explained that treatment for Chrone's is "unreliable" and often doesn't work at all.

"So I along with some of my friends and family are walking marathons throughout June to raise money for Crohn’s and Colitis UK.

"As a group we shall we walking at least 566km and hope to raise over £2,000. We are currently on £1,738 and it has only been one day."