WHILE we've all been getting on with our lives, taking the kids to school, watching Corrie and buying the weekly shop, Kate and Gerry McCann remain in a frozen limbo of despair.

Every minute of every day they have to deal with the fact their daughter Madeleine is still missing and that, as more and more time passes, hopes of a happy ending are fading fast.

This week the couple, frustrated and saddened by the lack of any real effort by the British and Portuguese governments to find their little girl, made a direct plea to you and me to help them kickstart the hunt for Madeleine.

They want the botched investigation into their daughter's disappearance to be reopened and re-examined. It is a race against time as in a couple of months the Find Madeleine Fund will run out of cash.

Both Kate and Gerry are convinced that a complete review will unearth crucial leads that were never followed up - and reveal vital clues that were missed at the time.

Who could possibly deny them this glimmer of hope?

Shadow

They do their very best to remain positive and Madeleine's name is mentioned constantly in their family home, especially now twins Sean and Amelie are old enough to know what happened to their big sister.

Kate still talks "directly" to Madeleine every day and wonders what she looks like now.

Of course, this latest appeal leaves them wide open to criticism about leaving Madeleine alone in the holiday apartment in the first place, and gives the conspiracy theorists another chance to scandalously insist this broken couple had something to do with their child's disappearance.

If it was your precious son or daughter, you would move heaven and earth to find them, no matter how much it cost and how much time had passed.

Look at the heartbreaking case of Ben Needham, who disappeared on the Greek island of Kos back in 1991. If Ben is still alive, he would have just celebrated his 21st birthday.

His brave but careworn mother Kerry has never stopped trying to find her boy. She has campaigned tirelessly and says she will go on looking while she still has breath in her body.

Any mother would do the same.

Kerry still hopes that one day she will be reunited with her son but it's clear that she and her family live in the shadow of Ben's disappearance.

Kate and Gerry McCann must look at poor Kerry and shudder to think that, in decades to come, they will still be making appeals and showing computerised images of their daughter at 16, at 18 and at 21.

This week Kate sadly admitted that she is afraid that one day it will be just her and Gerry who will be looking for Madeleine.

They have battled for so long and so bravely but now they need our help. So far almost 10,000 of you have given your support, also giving real hope and comfort to Kate and Gerry.

Please sign the online petition calling on the Government to review Madeleine's case.

 Go to ipetitions.com/madeleinemaccann_case_review