We have decided to raise money for the Surgical Critical Care Unit at Kings College Hospital to try to make some good out of such a tragic event in our lives.

Phil had been suffering from headaches and migraines for a week when he started to vomit and had what we know now was a seizure.  Previously in the week he had been given the all clear by our doctor due to his family history of migraines and he had been feeling better, until the Saturday when he got markedly worse.  We called an ambulance and although they were reluctant to come out for what seemed to be typical migraine symptoms, we put pressure on them and they did come.

Phil was taken to Princess Royal Hospital where his symptoms got worse very quickly.  He had another seizure about half an hour after we arrived.  They took him for a CT scan and when they came back they said he had fluid on the brain but they could not confirm why.  They decided to transfer him to Kings College Hospital, but whilst they were waiting to hear that they had a bed for him, Phil's condition was deteriorating rapidly.  He had around 3 more seizures and they found it difficult to bring him back round after his final one.  They decided to put him in a medical coma to prevent more seizures.  Following this he was transferred in an ambulance to Kings.

On arrival at Kings Phil was given an emergency operation to drain the fluid from his brain.  After this he was put into the Surgical Critical Care Ward.  His condition was critical but he was stable.

Over the next 3 weeks, Phil remained at Kings, in the Critical Care ward.  The nurses there were amazing and the care that they showed Phil was outstanding.  Anything that he could need, they did for him.  He remained in a non conscious state for most of this time, similar to a coma, but he did open his eyes for periods of time and we are sure that he could hear us when we spoke to him as he would squeeze our hand and raise his eyebrows (with his eyes closed) when we said some things to him.  During this time we played him lots of music, videos of the children talking and talked to him all the time about what was going on at home.

Tests showed that Phil had a brain tumour but due to his poor neurological condition they were unable to try to treat this, they had to wait to see if he woke up.  They did not deem the responses that he was making to be particularly significant in his recovery, although to us any response was a small miracle that we were grateful for.

On his third week in the hospital, Phil took a turn for the worse.  The drain in his brain had become dislodged and the fluid had begun to build up again.  Phil suffered from 'catastrophic damage' to his brain, due to the pressure from the fluid.  This led to him being brain dead and unable to do anything for himself, even breathe.

At 11 pm on Monday 19th November the life support machines were turned off, as tests made it clear that Phil would never wake up.

As a family we are shocked and heartbroken.  Our lives will never be the same again without Phil.  We want to make a donation to Kings College Critical Care Unit because without them, Phil would not have made it through the last 3 weeks, and we are grateful that we had those weeks to tell him how precious he is to us all.  The care that they showed him and us as a family really was outstanding, especially in his final hours.

If you are able to make a donation in memory of Phil we would appreciate it.  Thanks.