My Six year old son was a thriving, active child. When my daughter was getting married my son began to complain about headaches, double vision, balance difficulties and throwing-up episodes. I attributed these symptoms to the late nights around the wedding and the Nash he was eating.
One night, however, things went from bad to worse. He told me that he was having shooting headaches and he was unable to open his eyes from the lights. I took him straight to the Dr the next day. The Dr checked his eyes and I could see from his face that something was wrong. He told me to go straight to the optician so that they would be able to take a picture of the back of his eye. We had the picture taken and the optician told me that he could see fluid pressure behind the eye. He then said "Take your son straight to A&E to have him checked out".
When we got to the hospital they did an MRI scan and found that my son had a Medulloblastoma tumour by the cerebellum (back of the brain). The tumour was blocking the flow of cerebrospinal fluid therefore causing the pressure in my son's brain.
My son was prepped for surgery and the surgeon removed the excess fluid via a shunt in the brain and also removed the tumour to the best of his ability. However, he told me that my son would still need radio and chemotherapy to ensure that all the bad cells were eradicated. Thus began a year-long journey for my son on first radiotherapy which uses high-energy protons to kill the cancer cells at a specific site and then chemotherapy which kills cancer cells throughout the body.
After my son had the tumour removed he woke up and his whole right side was paralysed. He was unable to speak or even hold an object. I contacted Oxychai as soon as he was discharged from the hospital and began doing daily sessions with my son. We also combined Physiotherapy with hyperbaric oxygen therapy. I asked the consultant about hyperbaric oxygen and he said he thought it was a waste of time. But when I asked him if he would do it for his own child he said he would definitely try it.
My little boy came to Oxychai in a wheelchair, right side paralysed, nonverbal and very weak. He had months of daily hyperbaric oxygen therapy sessions and the change was phenomenal. My little boy regained movement in his right side, he began to speak again and was hardly admitted to the hospital whilst undergoing chemotherapy.
Compared to other children his age with the same diagnosis who are admitted constantly because of their low immune system due to the chemo destroying the healthy cells in the body. My little boy never once felt sick or nauseous during the chemo. The Pharmacy would keep calling me to come and pick up the anti- nauseous medication but I never needed it because my son felt fine!
My son had a PICC line put into him so that the chemo could be administered easily. The nurse would change the dressing weekly. Often the PICC line becomes infected as it is a foreign object in the body, I saw many children coming into the hospital with infected PICC lines however my son never once had that issue and his PICC line always looked as good as new!
My son's physio could not get over the change in my son. He was energetic, motivated and full of life. My son is no longer in a wheelchair and is even learning to ride a bike without stabilisers! I feel that Oxychai helped my son with his healing journey and gave his immune system extra strength to fight his battle. My son enjoyed his sessions at Oxychai there were always interesting books to read and games to play. He also made friends and was able to do arts and crafts in the chamber during his session.
We are so grateful that Sarah Dafner set up Oxychai in the Manchester community, giving so many people the opportunity to heal through hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
Mrs F
Manchester UK
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