Help shine some joy for 6 yr old Perth boy Alec.

Hi, my name is Catherine Bergsma and I am raising money for one of my dearest friends (of 35 years +) Shelley Stuart her Husband Matt and 3 kids and in particular her youngest son Alec.

Up until the 1st November 2024 6 year old Alec was a bubbly, cheeky, beautiful little boy! Excelling at school (he is super smart ;-) ) and enjoying fun times with a great bunch of friends. Basically, living the life of a normal Perth 6 year old boy, together with his loving parents and super close and caring siblings (Katie 12 years and Callum 10 years) his life was perfect.

On the 1st of November everything changed when he at first complained to his Mum of a sore tummy, cold symptoms (not unusual symptoms) and then quite rapidly his ears started to ring... and they got worse.

Shelley being the amazing Mum she is, picked up on these symptoms quickly and rushed him to Joondalup Emergency and after initial examination.... an inner ear infection was suspected.

At this stage Alec's hearing got so bad he couldn't hear anything but ringing. He was urgently rushed to Perth Children's Hospital and all sorts of tests and scans began..... which as you can imagine was EXTREMELY TRAUMATIC for a 6-year-old boy who now couldn't hear a thing and so traumatic for Shelley and Matt watching their beloved son go through so much stress, pain and confusion!

After 2 weeks of excruciating tests, unknowns and pain... dear, bubbly 6-year-old Alec was diagnosed with profound deafness in both ears (this is an extremely rare case according to PCH) caused by a rare complication from an ear infection with a suspected meningitis component.

In under 3 weeks from a normal healthy hearing little Perth boy, Alec has now lost his entire hearing and is starting the process of cochlea implants in both ears (which will take up 6 months due to infection concerns).

Shelley and Matt won't even know until then if the nerve in beautiful Alec's ears even works.

We are praying night and day that it WILL WORK! As positive thoughts, prayers and miracles DO HAPPEN!

This not only impacts Alec but his entire family as his super close older Brother Callum & Sister Katie have had to come to terms with their dear little bro going through such a traumatic event and their worry and concern has been heartbreaking.

This is where YOU come in!

I would dearly love to shine some joy and happiness for Alec and his family over Christmas after such a traumatic and intense period of pain and the road ahead for them will be full of challenges.

I would love each of us to hold back on that one extra (and not needed) gift this Christmas and donate to the most worthy GO FUND ME page.

Most of us have children in our lives...... whether it's our own children, nieces, nephews, grandkids, godchildren, close friends' children... the list goes on.....just imagine if this happened to your beautiful little person in your life.

What I would love to do is for all of us to raise enough money for Alec and his family to enjoy 'something' or 'somewhere' relaxing and fun where they can just 'be' as a family.

Plus, I would also like to provide the rest of the donation money to Alec and his family for future medical expenses, hearing support products or anything else they may need for Alec as they navigate this journey.

Where for a small period of time they can just 'be' together in happiness.

On a side note, my beautiful friend Shelley and her hubby Matt have sadly had other traumatic events happen in their family life too which only adds to this devastating story. They lost their beloved first son James at 41 weeks (full term), plus other struggles I won't go into.

Life is just NOT FAIR, especially to people who are just such kind, loyal & amazing people.

Let's all feel the Christmas spirit that I know you all have and dig deep for little Alec during such a life changing, difficult time.

Your donation will provide a slice of joy to Alec, wrapping him in a big Christmas present of love and support!

Love from,

Catherine.