Jez was admitted to West Middlesex A&E struggling to breathe, in septic shock and with multi organ failure at the end of July last year. 24 hours earlier we had been out celebrating my birthday and he was absolutely fine. As his condition rapidly deteriorated, the Royal Brompton ECMO retrieval team came to rescue him in the middle of the night. This specialised team, equipped with advanced medical tools and an ambulance, played a crucial role in saving his life. We are lucky to live where we do, as only four hospitals in England have access to ECMO.

The ECMO doctor gave Jez a 10% chance of survival without ECMO, and 30% with it. He only had hours to live before he would have gone into cardiac arrest, as his heart was functioning at less than 10%. He spent 8 days on ECMO, unfortunately developing compartment syndrome in his left leg as a consequence. This causes swelling, and the medical team had to cut the muscle and tissue in his legs because the swelling impedes blood flow, posing a severe risk.

It was discovered Jez had been infected with invasive strep A, causing streptococcal toxic shock syndrome - a life threatening condition that develops rapidly within 24hours where the body goes into septic shock with low blood pressure and multi organ failure.

After 3 weeks in a coma Jez woke up, marking the beginning of a whole new challenge. After battling to survive, Jez had to relearn how to breathe, speak, eat and start to move his body. He went on to spend 9 months in total in different hospitals across London, such was the severity of his illness and the complications it has caused, particularly with his legs. He finally came home in March 2024.

Prior to his illness, Jez was incredibly fit, commuting daily on his bike to and from work and mountain biking in his spare time with our son, Arthur. He also played tennis, football and swimming. Sport has always been a huge part of his life and one of the biggest challenges, and adjustments we are having to make is to how to continue as a family connecting through physical activity. Jez taught Arthur to ride his bike during lockdown and they have a strong bond and love of cycling together. Having his dad in hospital so ill and for so long has been devastating for us all and especially Arthur.

Jez is working hard and showing great strength and resilience in his rehab and recovery. Despite having had 3 out of 4 quad muscles removed in his left leg, remarkably he is beginning to have feeling and movement come back. He has been training on a turbo cycle at home, and has been able to try out a trike which opens up the freedom to begin cycling outdoors with Arthur again. However, the adaptive bike which will enable him to get back to the activities he loves are expensive. We are grateful to those who feel able to help contribute to this cause.