Woman raffling home for charity

Doreen McLaren's converted barn house is worth about £750,000

A woman is raffling her £750,000 house for charity after finding out she had a treatable blood disorder on TV.

Doreen McLaren, 47, from Petworth, West Sussex, spent eight years being told by doctors that they had no answer for her migraines and dizzy spells.

But her life changed last autumn when she saw a patient diagnosed with Hughes Syndrome on BBC One's City Hospital.

She said she had been left "disgusted" and would give 2% of the sale profits to the Hughes Syndrome Foundation.

Angry

The charity tries to raise awareness of the condition, which is also known as "sticky blood", within the medical profession.

The injustice of people not knowing about Hughes really angered me Doreen McLaren

Mrs McLaren, who is now receiving treatment for the disorder, said: "The injustice of people not knowing about Hughes really angered me.

"I want someone else to feel exactly the way I did when they discovered that there is an answer to all these symptoms."

Although still relatively unknown to many GPs, the condition - easily diagnosed by simple blood tests - is thought to affect millions of people throughout the world.

The couple are looking to sell 8,500 raffle tickets

Mrs McLaren, who was forced to give up her job selling computer systems to businesses around the world because of the condition, said: "They (doctors) definitely decided that it was all in my mind.

"It got to the point that I was so humiliated that I would not go and see them anymore."

But when she saw the TV programme, which follows the day-to-day life of London's Guy's and St Thomas' hospitals, she said she thought "eureka, my god, they are describing me".

Mrs McLaren and her husband, Mark Watson, are looking to sell 8,500 tickets at £100 each with £2 from each ticket going to the charity.