Tates Battle with Highly Rare Spinal Cord Stroke

There are moments in your life when you find yourself at a crossroads and you realize that nothing will ever be the same again. Tuesday February 16th 2021 is a day that will forever remain etched in our minds forever. I am Tates mother Mel and this is our story.

Our darling Tate, is a 7 year old boy. Until Tuesday February 16th he was a fun-loving, physically strong, very active and a cheeky boy. Tate is a typical boy and loves basketball, parkour, riding his bike, playing at the park, playing football, fishing and all the other things that little boys enjoy doing.

On the morning of February 16th Tate was his usual happy self until he had complained of a sore right wrist. This quickly progressed to the left wrist and gradually he became completely paralyzed, his legs collapsing from underneath his little body while he was trying to walk. He was slowly losing control over his body and there was nothing he, or anyone else could do to stop it. We rushed him to the hospital. Within the space of four hours, bubbly young boy was now completely paralyzed, moved to the resuscitation room and loosing consciousness in front of my eyes. An anesthetist (along with other doctors, nurses, and other specialists) came rushing into the room and told me that if they didn’t put Tate into an induced comma, intubate and connect him with a ventilator and resuscitation equipment that he wouldn’t make it to a specialist children’s hospital 20 minutes away via ambulance. Tate was dying in front of my eyes. Within the space of four hours our Tate had gone from being a perfectly healthy young boy to fighting for his life and admitted in Monash Children’s ICU, on a ventilator, completely paralyzed from his head down.

Tate was diagnosed 7 days later with Transverse Myelitis (TM), a rare neurological disorder that affects the spinal cord and is without cure.

Tate spent six weeks in the Peadiatric ICU on and experienced steroid treatment (to shut his immune system down), two lumber punctures, two rounds of immunoglobin (blood product) treatments, five rounds of plasma exchange dialysis (used in life threatening situations), ongoing ventilation, two MRI’s and eventually a tracheostomy. Tate was moved to a ward from ICU after 6.5 weeks and has been there ever since.

Our beautiful Tate has been diagnosed from doctors as a quadriplegic and has damage all the way down his spinal cord from C2 down. It is highly unlikely he will ever walk again and will be wheelchair bound. We have been told that any movement in his limbs we can get back is nothing short of a miracle. Tate also doesn’t have any bladder or bowel control and needs ongoing 5x daily catheterization (CIC) and mini enemas to assist with timed bowel function. Tate receives physio and occupational therapies three times daily and struggles with muscle spasticity that is mostly on his left side.

Even though Tate is paralyzed, he experiences constant pain that is associated with TM and has been in hospital for 121 days (at the time of writing- 15/06/2021).

To get Tate home we have been told that we need to undergo significant structural and cosmetic renovations to our property to make it suitable for Tate and his lifelong needs i.e. wheelchair ramps and other modifications to allow wheelchair movability. We will also need to purchase mobility aids such as an electric wheelchair, commode, transfer station, a mechanical bed with self inflating and deflating mattress, medical devices and equipment. To get Tate to his appointments we also need to sell my car and purchase a wheelchair suitable vehicle and then have the wheelchair conversions made to it. Tate will also require extensive physical and cognitive therapies on an ongoing basis multiple times per week.

Being self employed, not only have we been hit financially due to Covid-19 lockdowns etc but now are having to work fewer hours each week to be with Tate in the hospital. I also won't be able to return to work as I have been advised that he will remain a quadriplegic for life.

Doctors have said that Tate will remain in the hospital for a period of approximately 6 months while undergoing physical treatments.

It is devastating for our family to see what was looking to be a bright future for our little boy now slipping away before our eyes.