A YOUNG mum was told she had anxiety — but was actually suffering from a rare chronic disorder and is in need of a heart transplant.

The family of Louise Grimshaw, aged 20, say doctors at Leigh Family Practice told her to take salt tablets and failed to spot she was suffering from life-threatening Addison's Disease.

They claim she now has as little as nine years left to live and are furious that the surgery sent her home and not to hospital. The matter was referred to the General Medical Council (GMC) who concluded that a doctor at the practice had failed to spot that Miss Grimshaw had Addison's.

The frail mum, who had dropped to five stone in weight and had turned black, visited the doctors on five separate occasions in June and July last year.

The last time she attended Leigh Family Practice on July 14, she had to be carried in by her dad as she couldn't walk. Her family claim they were told to "take her home and feed her up" and blood tests were arranged for the following day.

The following morning Miss Grimshaw, who has a three-year-old daughter, collapsed. Her liver and kidneys had started to shut down and the disease had attacked her heart.

She was taken to Warrington Hospital where she was diagnosed with Addison's disease, a disorder that occurs when the body produces insufficient amounts of certain hormones in the adrenal glands.

She was put in intensive care for a week and transferred to Wythenshawe Hospital, where she spent nine weeks in critical intensive care and had six separate operations. Her parents were told she had a 40 per cent chance of survival.

Louise’s mum, Sharron Grimshaw, aged 54, from Edna Road in Leigh said: "She was basically dying before our eyes.

"When she was admitted to Warrington, she was black. If the doctors at Leigh Family Practice had diagnosed her when her dad carried her in that day the disease wouldn't have gone to her heart. She has had to learn to walk, talk and swallow again.

"Her whole life has been ruined, it's devastating. Her kidneys and liver have been able to correct themselves but they can't fix her heart so now she needs a heart transplant."

Miss Grimshaw, who now lives with her partner, John Thompson, aged 21, and their daughter Amelia, in Newton-le-Willows, has had a L-Vad pump put into her heart, a mechanical device to help it beat.

However she can only be on the device for 10 years and has already been on it a year. The family are now waiting to hear if she can be put on the transplant list.

A report released by the GMC last month concluded that the treatment of Miss Grimshaw had “fallen seriously below that expected of a reasonably competent GP because of the failure to perform an adequate examination, the failure to consider that patient A may have been suffering with a serious underlying condition and therefore the failure to consider whether patient A required immediate admission to hospital at the time of consultation on 14 July 2014.”

However the report concluded that the incident was “isolated” which the General Medical Council consider “remediable by increasing Dr Forsdyke’s knowledge and awareness of Addison’s disease.”

The report continued: “Dr Forsdyke has shown insight into his failings and taken appropriate steps to increase his knowledge in this area.

“We consider that it would now be very unlikely that Dr Forsdyke would repeat this failing.”

Nobody from the practice was available for comment.