Rally for Mollie's fight

Rally for Mollies Fight

We are looking for people's support and generosity. On the 7th of February, my daughter Mollie Brown’s (who was fit and healthy) life changed forever.

Monday 7th February 2022 was an average evening. Mollie was chilling at home as many 21-year-olds do. Around 9.15 pm, Mollie mentioned her eyes were stinging, then moments later, she went into a seizure. The household went into panic mode. An ambulance was called and arrived within 7 minutes. The paramedics arrived and were terrific and rushed Mollie to Grimsby A&E. Moille carried on having seizures and was then transferred to Scunthorpe hospital, diagnosed with a stroke.

11th of the February, 2022, Mollie was taken to the Intensive Care Unit and put into an induced Coma because the seizures continued. More importantly, there were lasting for over 2 minutes each time. Within one 24-hour period, Mollie had experienced over 100 episodes. Scunthorpe ICT delivered all scans available to them (Cat Scans, MRI etc.) but was dumbfounded on how to gain control of Mollie's health. Mollie needed to be transferred to the specialist unit in Hull Royal, a hospital over 30 minutes away, because the doctors were now saying a stroke hadn’t taken place. The hospital stated Mollie had pressure on the brain but could not find the cause. However, they were unable to move Mollie until they controlled the seizures. Due to Covid restrictions, the hospitals weren’t allowing visitors. Therefore we couldn’t physically be there and only receive one telephone update from the duty nurse day.

After 12 days in an induced coma, with still no diagnosis. Mollie started to respond to the drugs and became more stable in her coma to be transferred to Hull Royal Infirmary.

Monday, 21st February 2022, Mollie was transferred to her 3rd Hospital (Hull Royal Infirmary). Her drugs were increased, which meant she was on 11 different medications at one point for epilepsy and sedation, and within days she was able to control her breathing, which allowed the doctors to bring her out of the coma. The Covid restrictions were still impacting visitors; therefore, when Mollie did come around, she was on her own and only had the NHS staff for support, which was a distressing experience for her and an emotional and frustrating experience for her family.

On waking Mollie, she thought she had been involved in a car accident; she had no recollection of the events and was highly emotional about her surroundings. The day after Mollie came around, the hospital allowed me (her Mum) to visit for one hour. They stated this might support Mollie to settle in her current environment; the visit was highly emotional for both of us. Mollies medical diagnosis was still unclear. Therefore the hospital sent blood tests to Oxford Lab for investigation.

On Friday, 25th February 2022, Mollie started to turn a corner; she responded positively to everything the hospital was doing for her. Mollie was moved from the ITC unit and into a Stroke Ward; although both hospitals were unsure about diagnosing Mollie with a Stroke, she now has little feeling on her right side. Therefore Mollie is learning the basics again, i.e., writing, walking and eating. The hospital only offers one session of physio a day, so they was concentrating on Mollie gaining strength to walk again, and now she’s on a neurology ward. We can take advantage of the one-hour visiting time so, supporting her hand movements by writing her name, address and date of birth.

Mollie carried on with her physio every day, and little by little, she was getting stronger; she was off her feed tube and taking all of her meds orally, so things started to look up for Mollie. I would travel down every day to see Mollie after I finished work. A couple of weeks went by, and Mollie needed to be transferred to a London hospital for further investigation regarding Mollie's health condition. She was stable enough to make that journey to London

14th March Charing Cross hospital Mollie is now over 150 miles away from her family and friends, nearly a 5-hour car journey. Mollie's vision became blurred and showed flashing blue lights in her eyes. Seizures started again; therefore, Mollie was back in the ITC Unit. A Lumbar Puncture and MRI scans were undertaken. The Neurologist reviewed and compared all of Mollie’s records and again was dumbfounded by what was happening. He stated her brain scans taken within Scunthorpe and Hull hospitals have changed. They can now see a dark shadow to the brain's rear; however, it's not clear the cause.

Mollie is now miles away from family and friends. Mollie’s stepdad (George) works away from home, sometimes for weeks at a time. I (her mum) travelled down to London last week and stayed in a local hotel for four nights; it cost £600 excluding travel which isn’t something the household can afford every week; this was a very basic hotel, a single bed, nothing extravagant. We are a working-class family in full-time employment. Therefore, I am the primary carer for my teenage daughter Caitlin; I have two adult sons who are significantly supported throughout this ordeal.

Mollies life has changed; we cannot even think ahead of the rehabilitation period until we are informed of a diagnosis from the NHS. The doctors have stated whatever is happening to Mollie is a sporadic illness/ disease; all blood tests have been sent to Great Ormand Street hospital for further investigation. They have taken so many medical tests and keep testing and testing every day; Mollie has had Genetic blood tests too, which takes 3/6 months waiting time. Mollie may require complete care, which I, as her Mum, will be doing, so I have a lot to learn mysellf; with help from the NHS, I will become a competent carer for Mollie. Charing Cross cannot give a timeline for her stay in London, and we understand she is in the best hands of the NHS, but it's heart-breaking we cannot visit her daily. We know Mollie's life has changed.

Mollie and my family will significantly receive any donations. No matter how small, every donation will go a long way to help and support Mollie’s steps back to health. Whatever the rare medical diagnosis is, it has stolen Mollie’s independence; therefore, we ask for your help.

Thank you for taking the time to read Mollies story