Support for our boys brain injury recovery

Alex was born in Hawkes Bay Hospital unexpectedly at just 29 weeks gestation in March 2021. He suffered from a very rare, severe and generally fatal fetomaternal haemorrhage.

He was resuscitated multiple times and experienced a multitude of medical interventions his body struggled to cope with. With a blood loss of over 80%, he required significant blood transfusions. As a result, Alex sustained a grade 4 brain bleed (intraventricular haemorrhage) and neonatal encephalopathy from prolonged periods of oxygen deprivation. He was flown that night to the Wellington Neonatal Intensive Care unit where he spent 3 weeks fighting for his life, and another 1.5months in the Hawkes Bay Hospital Special Care Baby Unit (scbu) before he was big and strong enough to come home (56 days in total). This took a significant toll on our family and continues to do so today.

At 16 months old, Alex has officially been diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy and Global Developmental Delay.

It has been hard to get any type of support going forward and with the health system being incredibly overloaded, things are starting to slow down. We are having to source alternative therapies and supports, and self fund these ourselves.

Any donations received will go towards things like funding intensive therapy sessions he needs once every term at $750 for one 5 day intensive. We also have to travel to Hamilton for this so require support with fuel and accommodation etc.

We are hoping that by going all out in these early years, we are giving Alex the best chance to make new brain connections that will hopefully increase his quality of life going forward.