Help Our Star Beat Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy

This page was set up when Jacob was 11 weeks old and his world was full of unknowns. Jacob was born on the 28/9/2018, 9 weeks premature. Due to his mummy losing 6.5litres of blood he was born without a heartbeat and resuscitated for 13 mins. As a result he suffered severe brain damage. Jacob has now been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, is registered blind and he has uncontrolled epilepsy. The nhs do not provide adequate therapy and therefore the family have to pay for private therapy which is expensive. We are so grateful to all the support so far, and we appreciate your continued support xx

(Jacobs full story is below) 

Hi
11 weeks ago my cousin Kirsten gave birth to her beautiful baby boy Jacob. Unfortunately she was put under general anaesthetic while surgeons performed an emergency c section and hysterectomy amongst numerous blood transfusions to try and keep her alive. The doctors woke her up the next day after being put in an induced coma and was told the devastating news that not only had she given birth to her son early but that he didn’t have a heart beat for 13 mins and was currently fighting for his life in another hospital. Over the last 11 weeks it has been a huge rollercoaster for my cousin and her partner and us all as a family, we just all wanted to wake up and it all be a bad dream but this was real life and we had to all come together and stay strong for not only my cousin and partner but for her beautiful son who was fighting to get better. Baby Jacob has been diagnosed with Grade 3 Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) and is highly likely he will have long term difficulties. We have done extensive research into alternative therapies with a high success rate, however these treatments are not available on the NHS and as you can imagine beyond what my cousin and us as a family can afford. I have created this page with the permission of my cousin to try and raise as much money as we possibly can to give Jacob the best life he deserves and to ease the stress a little for my cousin and her partner. I am not asking for much as every £1 counts but if I could just ask you all to share this so we can try and get it to reach as many people as possible it would be massively appreciated.
Thank you all so much in advance, Emily x
Below I have attached the full story of what it was like for my cousin :

My son Jacob was born on the 28th September 2018 at 19.28pm, at 31+3 weeks, weighing 4lb 10oz. He was delivered by emergency Caesarean with no heartbeat and was resuscitated for 13 minutes before taking his first gasp for air. I had a normal, fairly easy pregnancy up until the week before Jacob was born when I experienced sudden sharp pain on the left side of my lower abdomen. I was taken to the maternity triage and told that I had strained a muscle and was prescribed dihydrocodeine which made me violently sick and unable to keep any food down (I have since researched and discovered is not recommended for pregnant women). The pain didn’t subside and got worse, so I went back to hospital six days later, barely able to stand or walk. The doctor briefly checked Jacob’s heartbeat and then sent me away again with the same “diagnosis”. The following two days I was in excruciating pain, I couldn’t eat, could barely move without feeling faint and couldn’t even sit on the toilet. As it was my first pregnancy I trusted what I had been told even though I didn’t think a muscle strain could cause me so much pain. Two days later I fainted and my partner and my Mum took me to hospital, I was in and out of consciousness by this point as I was in so much pain. Within 10 minutes of arriving at the hospital I was told that I would need an emergency caesarean. I recall thinking this couldn’t be real but was in so much pain I wasn’t even able to question this decision. Jacob was born at 19.28pm with no heartbeat and was resuscitated for 13 minutes until he took a gasp for air. I was totally unaware as I was under general anaesthetic fighting for my own life, whilst my partner and family waited anxiously outside the theatre. I was losing blood but the Doctors couldn’t find the cause. They discovered my left ovary had ruptured, however this wasn’t the cause of the bleed. I was losing blood rapidly, in total I lost 6.5 litres of my blood. In order to save my life a subtotal hysterectomy was performed. I had various blood transfusions and was put into an induced coma until the next day. Jacob was stabilised and transferred to a stage 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (nicu), where he fought to stay alive. Whilst Jacob was fighting for his life I was in a coma. When I woke up I was told Jacob had been delivered and was in intensive care, but he was at a different hospital. My partner told me Jacob was having repeated seizures and he might not make it. I remember feeling numb, like I was in a nightmare and it wasn’t really happening. I wasn’t able to see my baby for four days because I was in intensive care at a different hospital. All I had were pictures of Jacob with wires and tubes attached to him. When I was eventually transferred to the same hospital as Jacob I still wasn’t able to hold him because he was incubated, ventilated and so fragile. We were told the heart-breaking news that due to the traumatic birth there were bleeds on his brain. He was later diagnosed with grade 3 Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) and it was likely he would have long term difficulties. My heart sank and I felt physically sick to think that the life I had hoped for my first and (now) last child, may never be possible. Nothing will ever change the difficult road ahead for Jacob and my family, nothing will take back the lost weeks spent at the hospital. The decision to send me home without a scan or further examination has cost my sons health, almost taken my life and means I can never carry another child. Mine and my family’s lives have been changed forever, but I am grateful every day that my beautiful baby boy is alive. Jacob’s MRI scan shows cysts on both sides of his brain but they cannot give us a diagnosis or a clear picture of how he will be effected in the future. We get told that there is nothing they can do to reverse the damage but we refuse to accept that. They tell us we have to “wait and see” but we don’t want to “wait and see”. Jacob is our little star, he is a survivor and a fighter and we want to make sure that we give him the best possible future. We spent 11 weeks and 2 days in hospital, time that we should have spent with our son at home.
We have done extensive research into alternative therapies such as, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT), The Scotson Technique (TST), Anat Baniel Movement therapy and stem cell treatment, however these are not available on the NHS and will cost way beyond what we can afford.
I hate asking for help which is why i hadn’t done anything until now but with the help of my family convincing me it’s actually ok to ask for help sometimes and that it was for Jacob I agreed to this page being set up.
Our son is our little star and we want to do anything that we can to make sure he has the best future possible.
Thank you so much,Kirsten, Ashley and Jacob x