By Jodie Parsons - Northampton Herald & Post. Katie provides the inspiration A LITTLE girl from Kingsley who was born with a kidney condition has spurred her mum to run the marathon. Katie German was born in April this year with a condition called multicystic dysplastic kidney. It means she has one healthy kidney and a mass of cysts and minimal kidney tissue here the other should be. She has had to undergo a number of tests at Northampton General Hospital as well as taking medicine but still manages to smile. Her proud mum Sarah German, 29, has now decided to run the London Marathon in April 2006 and will be raising money for Kidney Research UK. She hopes it will raise awareness of kidney disease and funds towards research. Sarah and Katie's dad Ben German, 28, who also have a two-year-old son Zackery, first found out about Katie's condition at the second scan. Mr German said: "We had the second scan and we were there at the hospital and the lady doing the scan said 'oh' all the things you don't want to hear and said we better see the consultant and said she doesn't seem to have a kidney. "So we saw him and he did some tests. It turned out one kidney was fine and the other had lots of cysts on it. "Then she was born and it turned out the cyst had taken over the kidney completely so she only had one properly functioning kidney. "She has had more tests since, testing for reflux and infection and the hospital will keep an eye on her kidney with scans and tests about every six months. Katie had been taking a type of antibiotic to keep the good kidney healthy but as she is well she can stop taking them for the moment. Mr German added: “She's fine in herself. She's always been a very smiley baby. She's always got a smile for you.” They are now on the marathon after deciding to raise money for the charity and Mr German said: "We are looking to aim for about £1,500 but as much as possible really. Sarah has been writing off to various different companies and getting bits and pieces for a raffle." If you would like to help raise funds for Kidney Research UK by supporting Sarah's marathon run visit www.run4katie.org.

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