Meet Sam, a wonderful, happy and incredibly brave little boy who has been through more in his young life than most will ever have to face. He is my son, and my hero.

Sams brain didn't form correctly during pregnancy. We had no idea anything was wrong until our tiny baby suffered a massive seizure at 14 weeks of age - the seizures kept on coming, each one more aggressive than the last and when tests showed our boy had a catastrophic seizure disorder of infancy called Infantile Spasms our world fell apart. Since then Sam has had never had a day when he hasn't suffered seizures.. at his worst he suffered hundreds of seizures daily. The seizures devastated his development and left him unable to sit unaided, walk or talk. Sam uses a wheelchair full time with an oxygen cylinder and suction machine, and is 100% dependant on us for all his needs be it personal care or playing with his favourite toys. Sam's seizures are drug-resistant, despite three anti-seizure medications and a vagus nerve stimulator (VNS) which has significantly helped reduce his seizures he still experiences around 6-20 seizures every day of his life.

Sams list of medical issues is enormous, in addition to the life-threatening seizures he has very low muscle tone, visual impairment thanks to the severity of his seizures and is no longer able to eat orally, so is fed through a PEG tube directly into his tummy. Sam's low tone has also resulted in scoliosis (curvature of the spine) and in October 2023 he underwent spinal fusion surgery to insert two metal rods and a whole lots of screws into this spine to hold it straight.

Despite everything he faces daily, Sam is only of the most gentle, loving people you could ever wish to meet. He is a gentle soul, loves animals and nature, and enjoys nothing more than being able to spend time with his friends and family. He's really a very ordinary teenager.

The therapy, adaptations and equipment Sam needs are all expensive but open his world up exponentially. Please help us to raise the money our boy needs; it won't change the World, but for one very brave young man  it'll mean everything. 

xxx

7.5% of all donations to Tree of Hope in relation to this appeal will be allocated to the general charitable purposes of Tree of Hope to cover our core operating costs.