As many of you know Isaac he was a happy, healthy, popular kid, regularly playing football and other sports, in year 8 of grammar school. Then one Sunday afternoon he collapsed in the bathroom, I picked him up from the floor and realised he had no movement or feeling in his right side, he was unable to speak. I suspected that he had suffered a stroke.  Matt called 999 he was taken to William Harvey, he was so poorly at times he was difficult to wake him.  He had a CT scan which was inconclusive they were suspecting a bleed or tumour but found neither. I requested that he be given an MRI scan and the Paedriatricain followed through this request, unfortunately this was declined by the Radiologist.  Being unable to find a reason for Isaac's collapse it was agreed that he should be sedated and intubated and sent to ITU at Kings we were within minutes of this happening.  However unknown to us a Stroke Nurse on A and E had seen Isaac and had spoken to Dr Balogun the Stroke Consultant about him and he agreed to see Isaac.

Dr Balogun appeared just in time, he insisted on an MRI, 5 hrs after Isaac's initial collapse, the scan took just 2mins 46secs and a diagnosis of Ischaemic stroke was given.  We were then given the option to treat him with thrombolising treatment which basically blasts the clot.  This treatment is only licensed in 18-80yr olds and carries the risk of bleeding into the brain, of course this is the most terrifying decision a parent could make but what other option did we have?  We went ahead with the treatment and within 15mins Isaac could move his right arm again.  He was moved to the stroke ward and monitored over night because of the risks associated with the treatment. We sat by his bed all night watching the monitors, his blood pressure dropped so low over night and that was terrifying.  We were so frightened about how he would be in the morning, would he be able to speak or walk, would he be able to go back to school? All of these things are something nobody ever wants to go through.  When Isaac woke in the morning, he could talk, he had some difficulties with word finding, his swallow was weak.  

Isaac was transferred to Evelina children's hospital after a CT scan confirmed no further damage.  He had lots of tests and investigations to try to find out why this happened.  They found a small hole in his heart which was closed, hopefully this was the cause.  He has continued with physio, occupational therapy and speech therapy,  he has been left with some difficulties but we are hopeful that these will continue to improve.

Isaac has had to make huge adjustments to his life, he is very tired very quickly, he regularly attends appiontments locally and in London, things that were so easy for him are now more difficult.

Whilst we were in A and E, I kept saying 'it's like he's had a stroke' ' are you sure it's not a stroke' But because this is very rare in children nobody at Ashford had seen it before and therefore they were looking at other reasons for his symptoms.  When we were at the Evelina we learnt that other children had been through this and although thankfully it is very rare it can happen to healthy kids.  Since being home we have joined groups and discovered that other children of Isaac's age have had very similar experiences. We were very lucky that Isaac was seen by the Stroke Consultant at the right time, had he of gone to London it would have been far too late to treat him.

We have been extremely well supported by the Childhood Stroke Project Manager at the Stroke Association, we would really have struggled to get Isaac the support he needs without her.

The reason we want to raise money is to promote awareness about specifically childhood strokes,  not only within the general public but also amoungst health professionals. We were lucky, but it shouldn't be down to luck!

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