IF you really want to get a message across, what better way than to have to prominent landmarks lit up in red?

The Hoad monument in Ulverston and The Roundhouse Cafe in Barrow will shine like beacons on Sunday for Ulverston youngster Maxen Shaw.

Six-year-old Maxen is the youngster whose parents were told he was ‘not compatible with life’.

He has Digeorge Syndrome, which is thought to affect one in 2,000 people. As his mum Caroline tells us, her son’s condition was a syndrome not many have heard of and involved learning and behavioural problems, heart problems, hypoglycaemia and a low immune system.

Mrs Shaw and her husband Thomas, 40, already had three children but nothing prepared them for health battles they would face with Maxen. When he was three days old it was discovered that he had a heart murmur, and during a scan the doctor made a startling discovery.

Caroline said: “The doctor looked at the screen and said ‘I don’t understand it, he’s not compatible with life’, and those words completely turned our lives upside down.”

Maxen was finally diagnosed and this Sunday is Digeorge Syndrome awareness day.

We hope the day is a triumph in spreading the word across South Cumbria – and in helping more children like Maxen.