On Sunday 2nd February 2025, Morgan was taken into hospital following seizures. She was intubated and tried on countless medications to try and control the seizures that kept coming. Seventeen weeks later, against all the odds and surprising every medical professional involved, we thought a miracle was happening — she started to make progress.

But on Monday 7th July, Morgan's seizures returned, and they reversed every bit of progress she had made. She became unresponsive again. Sadly, on Wednesday 23rd July 2025, Morgan lost her fight, with her family right by her side holding her hand. She fought so hard, every single day, for 24 weeks. Morgan was 21 years old, and her seizures were caused by an extremely rare condition called Succinic Semialdehyde Dehydrogenase Deficiency (SSADH). I went to school with Morgan, and losing her has been devastating for everyone who knew her.

As if that day wasn't already unbearable, just six hours after Morgan passed, Axel (Morgan’s little brother) & my little sister's close friend from school, who was 6 at the time (now 7) — collapsed at school after being elbowed in the head and couldn't stop being sick. His mum and her partner Jack rushed him to hospital, where everyone initially thought it was concussion. Within hours, a CT scan showed a bleed on his brain, and he was transferred to Addenbrookes. By the time he arrived and had a repeat scan, the bleed was significant. Axel had suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm — something that had been there since birth, undetected, until that day.

He was rushed into his first head surgery that evening and placed into a coma. Since then, Axel has had five brain surgeries. He has a peg feed, is unable to communicate, and the connection between his brain and his eyes isn't working, so he's now registered as visually impaired. In the last few weeks, after his family noticed unusual movements, an EEG confirmed he is also now having seizures — epilepsy caused by the ruptured aneurysm. Axel is a wheelchair user and has to be hoisted between his bed and chair. His whole life, and his family's, has been turned upside down. They have had to move into temporary accommodation, that is not fully suitable for Axel as there are no washing facilities, but they needed to come back to Peterborough for some sort of normality to begin, they have to now wait for their property to be adapted for Axel to move back too, Axel will need 24/7 care for what we can only imagine will be the rest of his life. He's been at a children's rehabilitation centre since 13th November 2025 — was finally discharged 6months & a day after admission.

Losing Morgan and watching what Axel and his family are going through has changed me. I can't take any of it away, but I can do something. On 31st May, I'll be running a 10k to raise money for Axel — to help with the equipment, adaptations and care he's going to need as he and his family rebuild their lives around this new reality.

My target is £500. Anything you can give, no matter how small, will make a real difference to Axel and the people who love him. And if you can't donate, please share this — every share helps.

Doing this for Morgan. Doing this for Axel.