Nathan Jao's Story
Donation protected
As many of you know, at Thycotic we have a great culture that supports and cares for one another to help our goals to be successful. The following story is about one of our fellow tribe members, Raymand Jao and his son Nathan Sebastian Jao. We ask you to take the time to read the following story and help us in our goal to try to bring some answers and hopefully some happiness to this family.
Nathans Story
11 year old Nathan suffers from a medical condition called pterygium syndrome, a very rare disorder characterized by permanently bent toes, club foot and webbing of the skin between the toes from birth.
Before he had even reached one year old, Nathan endured 2 major operations. The first, to extract the excess part of his foot and the second, to split and slice the his contorted leg and thigh to allow him to stretch his limbs. From this point, Nathan was confined to a Spica cast (a cement from the waist down) for the early part of his life. Unfortunately, it was determined that one of the operations was unsuccessful and that the operation would have to be repeated when he reached the age of 5 to remove further muscles.
At age 5, Nathan’s 3rd operation was a success, giving him the ability to walk and play with the aid of a leg brace, which is replaced every 3-6 months. His parents were able to utilise a secondhand pushchair to mobilise Nathan for longer journeys and travelling. Without his pushchair Nathan would become over exerted due to the limitations of the leg brace.
In April 2018, Nathan underwent his 4th and most recent surgery where an Ilisarov (metal pins and frame around the leg) was inserted in the hope of cutting the bone on his leg and letting it heal so that it’ll grow at the same rate of as his left leg. Initial assessment from doctors advised that Nathan would wear the metal frame for 2 months and therefore the operation was scheduled for the end of his school year so not to disrupt his education. Unfortunately, it took Nathan more than 6 months of wearing the metal frame to recover and he was not able to attend school for the duration.
In July 2019, a doctor suggested that Nathan should undergo more surgery to put the Ilisarov back on again, but Ray and his wife are very hesitant over this decision in fear of repeating the same long recovery process for it to fail again. A further recommendation was made suggesting that amputation of Nathans leg should be considered.
Nathan struggles to walk and his classmates and other students bully him. Nathan confides in his doting Grandma but when his parents ask him whether he is bullied, he only ever responds with “no, everything’s fine”. Despite this and the suffering caused by spending most of his young childhood bed ridden, Nathan has remained a joyful and positive little boy with a positive outlook on life. Every approaching hospital appointment brings nerves to Nathan and the family. He sweetly asks for comfort and guidance, praying to God to provide him with strength and faith throughout the whole process. For Ray and his wife, seeing their son in fear and not knowing what lies ahead is excruciating.
We need your help…… we have consulted remotely with a specialist doctor in Europe, who has stated that there are many alternatives to amputation and that this should be a last resort. We are raising money to get Nathan assessed by specialist consultants who could give him another outlook and way forward and avoid amputation. Please support us to help Nathan have the best life he can possibly lead and allow him the ability to have alternative options to amputation. Please help by giving anything you can to help us reach our initial monetary goal to make the assessment possible. Ray would like to thank Simon Azzopardi for all his help and support and for listening when he told him his story. Ray never expected the help that Simon would then go on to offer for his son Nathan.
Nathans Story
11 year old Nathan suffers from a medical condition called pterygium syndrome, a very rare disorder characterized by permanently bent toes, club foot and webbing of the skin between the toes from birth.
Before he had even reached one year old, Nathan endured 2 major operations. The first, to extract the excess part of his foot and the second, to split and slice the his contorted leg and thigh to allow him to stretch his limbs. From this point, Nathan was confined to a Spica cast (a cement from the waist down) for the early part of his life. Unfortunately, it was determined that one of the operations was unsuccessful and that the operation would have to be repeated when he reached the age of 5 to remove further muscles.
At age 5, Nathan’s 3rd operation was a success, giving him the ability to walk and play with the aid of a leg brace, which is replaced every 3-6 months. His parents were able to utilise a secondhand pushchair to mobilise Nathan for longer journeys and travelling. Without his pushchair Nathan would become over exerted due to the limitations of the leg brace.
In April 2018, Nathan underwent his 4th and most recent surgery where an Ilisarov (metal pins and frame around the leg) was inserted in the hope of cutting the bone on his leg and letting it heal so that it’ll grow at the same rate of as his left leg. Initial assessment from doctors advised that Nathan would wear the metal frame for 2 months and therefore the operation was scheduled for the end of his school year so not to disrupt his education. Unfortunately, it took Nathan more than 6 months of wearing the metal frame to recover and he was not able to attend school for the duration.
In July 2019, a doctor suggested that Nathan should undergo more surgery to put the Ilisarov back on again, but Ray and his wife are very hesitant over this decision in fear of repeating the same long recovery process for it to fail again. A further recommendation was made suggesting that amputation of Nathans leg should be considered.
Nathan struggles to walk and his classmates and other students bully him. Nathan confides in his doting Grandma but when his parents ask him whether he is bullied, he only ever responds with “no, everything’s fine”. Despite this and the suffering caused by spending most of his young childhood bed ridden, Nathan has remained a joyful and positive little boy with a positive outlook on life. Every approaching hospital appointment brings nerves to Nathan and the family. He sweetly asks for comfort and guidance, praying to God to provide him with strength and faith throughout the whole process. For Ray and his wife, seeing their son in fear and not knowing what lies ahead is excruciating.
We need your help…… we have consulted remotely with a specialist doctor in Europe, who has stated that there are many alternatives to amputation and that this should be a last resort. We are raising money to get Nathan assessed by specialist consultants who could give him another outlook and way forward and avoid amputation. Please support us to help Nathan have the best life he can possibly lead and allow him the ability to have alternative options to amputation. Please help by giving anything you can to help us reach our initial monetary goal to make the assessment possible. Ray would like to thank Simon Azzopardi for all his help and support and for listening when he told him his story. Ray never expected the help that Simon would then go on to offer for his son Nathan.
Organizer and beneficiary
Olivia Holdsworth
Organizer
Simon Azzopardi
Beneficiary