jamiesmack
Active member
- Messages
- 224
- Location
- Brixham, Devon
Hi everyone. I'm sorry I haven't really been on much to thank you all, but havent really been online too much. Heads been a bit over the place.
I just wanted to thank you all for your generosity, kind words and offers of support. I knew you were all a top bunch of lads before this happened, and this has backed it up 100%.
As you've all been so kind, I feel you deserve some sort of explanation as to what happened, so here goes! When my son Alfie was 6 weeks old we had a visit from his health visitor to let us know that a routine blood test had picked up some issues and we were sent off to the hospital for more tests, where it was confirmed to us that Alfie had something called congenital muscular dystrophy. CMD is a degenerative muscle wasting disease, where his muscles were at there strongest when he was born, and would only weaken from there. As you can imagine that absolutely floored us as a family as we worried so much for our future. The amazing thing was that over the next few years Alfie kicked CMD's ****! he managed to sit upright (with help from his specialised chair), use a power wheelchair at the age of two (the youngest in Wales apparently) and basically defied all odds. On top of that he was an amazing little kid. So bright and funny. In April last year Alfie started mainstream school, despite all professionals saying that he should be in a special school. He absolutely thrived, being placed in a class two years above his age group.
Alfie's condition has meant that he was always very susceptible to illness, and even the slightest cold meant he needed hospitalisation because of his weak lungs. Before christmas Alfie picked up another cold, and as was usual my wife and I sat up with him all night, monitoring his condition. All of a sudden his oxygen alarm went off and we knew it was time to call an ambulance. This took 35 minutes to arrive, during which time Alfie had stopped breathing on his bedroom floor. The ambulance whisked him and my wife to intensive care, getting his heart going again on the way. We spent the week before christmas at Stoke intensive care in a state of panic, ive never felt anything like that before, it was surreal. As the week went on, his condition deteriorated, and an MRI scan showed significant brain damage had occurred when he stopped breathing. He started to have seizures and the doctors discussed with us the option of removing his ventilator etc.
At 5pm on Christmas evening the nurses put him on my wifes knee, they removed all the ventilator etc and I held them both until he fell asleep.
It was the hardest thing Ive ever done but we are sure it was the right thing to do for him.
I'm sorry for the huge rambling post, once I'd started I couldnt stop! I dont think Ive ever said all of that to anyone before, so I think it might help in a wierd way.
By the way, my customers have all been great so far, I've spoken to them all at least twice, letting them know whats going on and so far I've had no problems. If i lose any over this then they weren't worth having in the first place. I'm going to do a few small jobs this week just to ease myself back into it. My friend has a flat in Brixham, Devon that he is allowing us to use next week, so we are going to go for a spin down there before starting back to work again.
Anyway, as I said before thank you all so much. View attachment 6488
View attachment 6487
I just wanted to thank you all for your generosity, kind words and offers of support. I knew you were all a top bunch of lads before this happened, and this has backed it up 100%.
As you've all been so kind, I feel you deserve some sort of explanation as to what happened, so here goes! When my son Alfie was 6 weeks old we had a visit from his health visitor to let us know that a routine blood test had picked up some issues and we were sent off to the hospital for more tests, where it was confirmed to us that Alfie had something called congenital muscular dystrophy. CMD is a degenerative muscle wasting disease, where his muscles were at there strongest when he was born, and would only weaken from there. As you can imagine that absolutely floored us as a family as we worried so much for our future. The amazing thing was that over the next few years Alfie kicked CMD's ****! he managed to sit upright (with help from his specialised chair), use a power wheelchair at the age of two (the youngest in Wales apparently) and basically defied all odds. On top of that he was an amazing little kid. So bright and funny. In April last year Alfie started mainstream school, despite all professionals saying that he should be in a special school. He absolutely thrived, being placed in a class two years above his age group.
Alfie's condition has meant that he was always very susceptible to illness, and even the slightest cold meant he needed hospitalisation because of his weak lungs. Before christmas Alfie picked up another cold, and as was usual my wife and I sat up with him all night, monitoring his condition. All of a sudden his oxygen alarm went off and we knew it was time to call an ambulance. This took 35 minutes to arrive, during which time Alfie had stopped breathing on his bedroom floor. The ambulance whisked him and my wife to intensive care, getting his heart going again on the way. We spent the week before christmas at Stoke intensive care in a state of panic, ive never felt anything like that before, it was surreal. As the week went on, his condition deteriorated, and an MRI scan showed significant brain damage had occurred when he stopped breathing. He started to have seizures and the doctors discussed with us the option of removing his ventilator etc.
At 5pm on Christmas evening the nurses put him on my wifes knee, they removed all the ventilator etc and I held them both until he fell asleep.
It was the hardest thing Ive ever done but we are sure it was the right thing to do for him.
I'm sorry for the huge rambling post, once I'd started I couldnt stop! I dont think Ive ever said all of that to anyone before, so I think it might help in a wierd way.
By the way, my customers have all been great so far, I've spoken to them all at least twice, letting them know whats going on and so far I've had no problems. If i lose any over this then they weren't worth having in the first place. I'm going to do a few small jobs this week just to ease myself back into it. My friend has a flat in Brixham, Devon that he is allowing us to use next week, so we are going to go for a spin down there before starting back to work again.
Anyway, as I said before thank you all so much. View attachment 6488
View attachment 6487