Please help us get Tom home!

Dear friends, family and supporters,

We have started this fundraiser in an attempt to reach as many people as possible with this story of my brother Tom, 23.

These photos were taken only 6 weeks apart.

Almost 8 weeks ago, after returning from a holiday in Bali, Tom became almost entirely paralysed from his face down in a matter of days with no obvious cause. We later learned that Tom had contracted severe form of a rare auto-immune illness called Guillain-Barré syndrome. In people who develop Guillain-Barré syndrome, the immune system experiences a sort of allergic reaction to the infection, and it mistakenly attacks the peripheral nerves which can cause numbness, weakness, pain in the limbs and in worst cases, full paralysis.

My brother is suffering with the worst case.

Whilst normally a fit, healthy, caring and confident lad, Tom remains in urgent care in a hospital in Dubai with his critical functions such as breathing, swallowing, speaking, eating and vision still paralysed or severely impaired.

We are raising urgent funds to help to fly Tom back to the UK where we can get him the treatment he so desperately needs. Given his current condition, the cost to fly him back to the UK is very expensive but any further delays risk having an impact on his chances of recovery. Our goal is to raise £80,000 as quickly as possible so that we’re able to get Tom home.

FULL DETAILS BELOW:

Tom had recently started his new life in January having moved to Dubai where he had become a real estate agent. He was just weeks away from securing his new apartment where he could then begin to kick start his new beginning.

He had just returned from a trip of a life time with his best friends to Bali, Indonesia which he had decided to join last minute as a treat to himself for putting in the hard work and to congratulate himself for taking on this new challenge. He enjoyed it to the fullest and made some memories he will never forget.

However, within 7 days of being back in Dubai, Tom’s health would take a dramatic turn for the worse and his life would be turned upside down.

He began with symptoms such as some eye swelling and stomach problems and eventually double vision. He was diagnosed with a possible allergic reaction and sent home with an antihistamine shot.

Over the next 48 hours his health got significantly worse. He was losing sight in one eye and had lost feeling in the majority of his face and could no longer communicate properly. His best friend immediately decided get him to a hospital for emergency care where he was initially discharged after spending 8 hours in hospital. He then returned 24 hours later as he again was showing no signs of improvement.

He was then diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this (as we as a family weren’t), it is where your body’s immune system attacks its own nervous system.

An extremely rare disease that many of the doctors and nurses had never seen or dealt with before.

Guillain-Barré syndrome is thought to be caused by an over-reaction of the immune system, the body’s natural defence against illness and infection. Normally the immune system attacks any germs that get into the body. A disease in which the immune system attacks its own body is called an autoimmune disease. In people who develop Guillain-Barré syndrome, the immune system experiences a sort of allergic reaction to the infection and it mistakenly attacks the peripheral nerves which can cause numbness, weakness, pain in the limbs and in worse cases full paralysis.

My brother is suffering with the worst case.

Within a few days of being back in the emergency care unit, he was paralysed from the face down, his body fighting to do the most basic functions.

He was put into an induced coma to relieve his body of some of these side effects to allow his body to rest whilst it tried to repair itself.

8 weeks on, Tom is struggling to make progress and we have been strongly advised to return him to the UK immediately where he can receive the proper care that he requires.

This is where we ask for your help.

Tom currently is not able to sit up for longer than a period of 5 minutes, he cannot breathe without a constant high flow of oxygen and requires suction on his lungs at any given time.

This means that to get him home he needs to be on a specially-equipped flight and needs to be assisted by a medical professional throughout his entire journey until he arrives to a UK hospital.

Tom’s insurance has covered some of his emergency care but we currently do not know to the full extent that his bill will be until his discharge.

His flight to the UK will not be covered by his insurance.

That is why our target is £100,000 (GBP). With this we hope to cover the cost of his transfer back to the UK and to pay any outstanding bills for his care in his current hospital. If there is anything left once Tom’s bills are paid, we would donate to charities that deal with incredibly rare situations like in Tom’s case.

The impact that your support will give is invaluable. You will be giving Tom every fighting chance to be able to regain his full strength throughout his long journey ahead.

No matter the size of your contribution, your generosity will ease the financial burden our family is currently under.

Getting Tom home will also mean that he will be able to be with our mother who was recently diagnosed with stage 3 Breast Cancer and has not been able to travel to Dubai to be with him as her Chemotherapy has meant she has not been allowed to fly.

We kindly and graciously ask that in our time of need you will stand with us to bring our brother, son, and friend home. The money raised will be the difference for Tom getting back to the cheeky lad we all love and know him as.

We will keep key updates frequent on this page so our gratitude to your help will be shown throughout this journey. Please share this page with your friends and loved ones and help us to get our Tom back home.

With our most appreciative heart,

Hollie, Julia, Adam, Gav, Nicki, Michael, Rich, Liss, Callum, Alisha and the rest of the family x