THE parents of a baby in desperate need of a liver transplant have made an emotional appeal for a donor.

Wayne and Louise McCulloch's 15-month-old daughter, Frankie, was born with a rare, life-threatening liver condition.

Eight weeks after being born, on September 6, last year, she had major surgery during which surgeons attempted to prevent further liver damage.

She was doing well until August, when her condition deteriorated.

Her parents, from near Houghton-le-Spring, Wearside, say it is now a race against time to find her a donor.

Mrs McCulloch, 33, a civil servant, said: "We are just praying she won't have to wait too long for a suitable donor.

"I'd like to ask that more people put their names on the organ donor register - it could help save our baby's life.

"It's really a race against time now because Frankie is deteriorating all the time."

Frankie suffers from biliary atresia, a rare condition where bile ducts in the liver become progressively blocked, leading to irreversible liver damage.

Mrs McCulloch said: "We did not expect her to need a transplant so soon; we thought it might be when she was five or six.

"The doctors say the transplant has a 90 per cent success rate, so we don't think about the ten per cent.

"Frankie seems fine now, but I know she'll deteriorate in time."

The couple, who have a four-year-old son, Harry, took part in the Great North Run in September, raising £1,000 for the Children's Liver Disease Foundation. To contact the foundation call 0121-212 3839.

To sign up to the organ donor register, visit www.uktransplant.org.uk