The Abel Foundation

Helping the families & sufferers of Mitochondrial Disease

Call our Support Line on 0333 987 4686

The Abel Foundation was created to aid the sufferers of Mitochondrial Disease and help their families deal with this life limiting disease. Currently there is no cure.

We run a 24-hour support network via phone, email and text and are on hand to help people when they need support or even just someone to listen and can understand what they go through on a day to day basis.

We are in the process of building a community room for support groups to meet and share their knowledge.

As we grow we aspire to provide onsite counsellors for hospitals. You will be able to apply for financial aid for those needing equipment and respite.

Abel Noakes was the inspiration for founding the charity which is named after him. Born in September 2014, he has been battling this disease all of his young life.

Abel’s parents understand the challenges parents and carers face and set up The Abel Foundation to provide assistance to those dealing with this devastating illness.

When Abel was born his blood was showing very high acid levels. He was 3 weeks old before his parents Tony and Claire could take him home and were left in the dark as to what had caused the problem.

5 months later things started going wrong. After lots of stressful tests, Tony, Claire and baby Abel returned home and had to wait for results around 8 weeks.

Tony said “The reason for wanting to help others was the lack of information and understanding out there when he was diagnosed, it took months to find out what was wrong with Abel. We were scrambling around in the dark with only stress and worry to deal with”.

Finally they were told that Abel had something called Mitochondrial disease but the doctors knew little about this disease, so they resorted to the internet to research how they could help their son.

Abel has got Leighs Mitochondrial Disease with Narp Mutation. There is no cure – just a lot of vitamins can be administered to support him. Also its a matter of just keeping Abel well keeping him safe from viruses as they can lead to further illnesses, which to Abel can be life-threatening.

Abel had just turned 9 months old when he got home. Frustrated with the lack of support and knowledge of this disease Tony and Claire set up The Abel Foundation in 2015 to help provide support for sufferers and the families of Mitochondrial Disease