Helping Henry

Help Henry Fight Haemolytic Uremic Syndrome

Meet Henry! Henry is a 10 year old boy from Sunny North QLD. Henry has a love for heavy metal music, Rugby Union and Cricket. Henry is a wonderful big brother to his two sisters Isla and Penny. Up until recently Henry was a happy, healthy and very active 10 year old boy.

On Tuesday 30th of June 2024 Henry’s parents Carla and Chris took Henry to their local Gp as Henry just wasn’t quiet himself. He was tiring easy, a little bit irritable and complaining of back pain.

Later that evening they received a phone call from their GP instructing them to get Henry up to the local Emergency Department straight away as blood results taken came back suggesting that Henry’s Kidneys weren’t working properly.

Fast forward to Monday 5th August Henry’s parents have been told that Henry has Haemolytic Uremic Syndrome.

Haemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) is a rare condition that can lead to kidney failure in children. It causes the blood vessels to become damaged which can lead to clots forming in other vessels all throughout the body.  These clots can damage the kidney's and other organs. There are two different types of HUS "Typical" which is caused by a bacteria such as Ecoli and the other being "Atypical" which is caused from a GENE mutation.

Given that conventional treatments for the Typical type of HUS have been unsuccessful in slowing the progress of this disease for Henry it’s looking more and more likely that it will be the Atypical HUS. Patients diagnosed with Atypical HUS are likely to develop full renal failure within 3 years or diagnosis. Meaning life long dialysis which in its self has its own complications.

Henry has now been flown to Brisbane for treatment and to commence Renal Dialysis. The future is very uncertain for Henry as they have the agonising wait for genetic tests to come back.

Carla and Chris are both full time teachers and therefore don’t have the means to work remotely whilst in Brisbane.

We’ve started this fund to help keep the family unit together whilst Henry fights the biggest fight of his life. If you can’t donate we just ask that you keep the Thiele family in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.

Funds raised will go towards brightening Henry's days as he navigates his way through this difficult time and also help Chris and Carla with the costs of living away and maintaining their home here in Townsville.