Jacob Breckon's Fund
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On October 29 2015, our 11 year old son, Jacob, was playing football in Coventry for his local team, Woking, when he was suddenly and unexpectedly taken very ill with severe vomiting / head and neck pain. Our parental instincts went into overdrive, as he was clearly not right.
Jacob was rushed to our local hospital where he underwent a series of blood tests and scans, which detected that he had experienced a bleed (commonly known as a ‘haemorrhage’) on his brain. We never envisaged for one moment that this would be the (serious) outcome of his symptoms. He was immediately referred to St George’s Hospital in London, where he underwent a number of tests and scans (including MRI / CT scans), to reveal he has an AVM in his brain, which he was sadly born with (and has gone undetected until now); AVM stands for Arteriovenous Malformation, which is a tangle of abnormal and poorly formed blood vessels, affecting the arteries and veins. Sadly AVMS are very high risk, with them bleeding significantly more than normal vessels. AVMs can occur anywhere in the body, however brain AVMs are of special concern, because of the damage they can cause when they bleed (which can worst case scenario, result in strokes, seizures or even death). There are also very rare in children (occurring in less than 1 percent of the general population), with there currently being no known cure.
Since this occurring, our family’s world has been turned upside down. He has also recently experienced another two bleeds, which has meant more hospital admittances, and significant concern for his wellbeing / future. Jacob was initially referred to Sheffield Hospital for Radiotherapy, which would hopefully seal the AVM over a three year period. Unfortunately, the position of the AVM within Jacob’s brain is too dangerous to operate as the risks are very high, including death or blindness. This was devastating news as they informed us that no further treatment could be arranged for him, including no prognosis aside from ‘we will just have to hope that this doesn’t occur again, as there is no preventative treatment available in the UK’.
With little information about AVM’s being available, and conflicting opinions from different consultants in the UK as to his future, this leaves us with no option but to seek a fourth (and final) opinion from a leading consultant in America, in the desperate hope of finding treatment there for him (we have been advised from a leading consultant in the UK, that there is an expert doctor there which may be able to help, who specialises in Jacob’s rare condition). Jacob has a very uncertain future and the reason treatment is so imperative is to try to prevent further bleeding from the AVM. Clearly, time is not on our side, so we are trying to raise the funds urgently so that we can send Jacob to the US as soon as possible. If you can donate, please donate what you can – any donation, small or large will be hugely appreciated.
Thank you for reading this and taking the time to read about our darling little boy, Jacob Breckon….
Rachel and James Breckon
Jacob was rushed to our local hospital where he underwent a series of blood tests and scans, which detected that he had experienced a bleed (commonly known as a ‘haemorrhage’) on his brain. We never envisaged for one moment that this would be the (serious) outcome of his symptoms. He was immediately referred to St George’s Hospital in London, where he underwent a number of tests and scans (including MRI / CT scans), to reveal he has an AVM in his brain, which he was sadly born with (and has gone undetected until now); AVM stands for Arteriovenous Malformation, which is a tangle of abnormal and poorly formed blood vessels, affecting the arteries and veins. Sadly AVMS are very high risk, with them bleeding significantly more than normal vessels. AVMs can occur anywhere in the body, however brain AVMs are of special concern, because of the damage they can cause when they bleed (which can worst case scenario, result in strokes, seizures or even death). There are also very rare in children (occurring in less than 1 percent of the general population), with there currently being no known cure.
Since this occurring, our family’s world has been turned upside down. He has also recently experienced another two bleeds, which has meant more hospital admittances, and significant concern for his wellbeing / future. Jacob was initially referred to Sheffield Hospital for Radiotherapy, which would hopefully seal the AVM over a three year period. Unfortunately, the position of the AVM within Jacob’s brain is too dangerous to operate as the risks are very high, including death or blindness. This was devastating news as they informed us that no further treatment could be arranged for him, including no prognosis aside from ‘we will just have to hope that this doesn’t occur again, as there is no preventative treatment available in the UK’.
With little information about AVM’s being available, and conflicting opinions from different consultants in the UK as to his future, this leaves us with no option but to seek a fourth (and final) opinion from a leading consultant in America, in the desperate hope of finding treatment there for him (we have been advised from a leading consultant in the UK, that there is an expert doctor there which may be able to help, who specialises in Jacob’s rare condition). Jacob has a very uncertain future and the reason treatment is so imperative is to try to prevent further bleeding from the AVM. Clearly, time is not on our side, so we are trying to raise the funds urgently so that we can send Jacob to the US as soon as possible. If you can donate, please donate what you can – any donation, small or large will be hugely appreciated.
Thank you for reading this and taking the time to read about our darling little boy, Jacob Breckon….
Rachel and James Breckon
Organizer
Rachel Breckon
Organizer
