Hello,

Our son was 2 in March and he developed the chicken pox on his birthday! They came and went and we got through it fine! Then about 8 or 9 weeks later my son had what we now know to be his first TIA. I thought he had got pins and needles as he could not stand up. It came and went and we thought nothing of it untill a few days later he had anther one only this time it was a lot worse and as he couldnt speak very well he was unable to tell us what was wrong! We rushed him to hospital but it was over when we got there so there was nothing they could really do!

We were given an appointment for a few weeks time and advised to keep an eye on him. From then he continued to suffer from TIA's untill they developed into a stroke. He was completly paralysed down his right side including his face. For a happy go lucky boy who never stopped to a complete wreck who was unable to sit unaided was heartbreaking!

He underwent a lumber puncture, a few CT scans and then we were transferred to a larger hospital an hour away. He had a few MRI and MRA scans and it was then we learnt that he had had a stroke. The chicken Pox from weeks earlier had stayed in his system and attacked his brain! This caused damage to his large artery in his brain which had caused blood clots. This led to his brainbeing starved of oxygen and becoming damaged!

He underwent an intensive cause of treatment to irradicate the chicken pox virus and slowly started to regain movement! We spent 4 weeks in hospital and he has now come on in leaps and bounds! We had a minor set back a couple of months later as he had another 2 TIA's but further scans showed no new brain damage! He is on daily injections of Tinzaparin and weekly blood tests to measure his clotting levels and physio and speech therapy but he is nearly back to normal!

So although we have gone through weeks of utter hell - I wanted to share our experiences as we go through them to show that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and to count blessings as they arrive! He is a happy and active child again even though he suffered weeks of tortuous and invasive tests! As I write this his scans have all showed no new damage and Drs are very happy with his progress!

I hope that your experiences all have such a happy ending!

Sarah xxx

Thanks to Sarah for sending in her Elliott's profile. Anyone else who would like to share their story can send it along with a photograph (if you're not shy!)

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