Help Connor with his road to recovery

As I’m sure many mothers can relate, we don’t always like asking for help. But sometimes, life throws us a curveball that truly takes a village to get through.

 

And that’s what happened to Tania and her family. Nothing could prepare them for the curveball that was thrown to them last year with their eldest son, Connor. At only 8 years of age, Connor was diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). FND is a rare, undiscovered disordered that essentially converts emotional stress, anxiety, and “brain overload” into physical symptoms such as unexplained pain, twitches, convulsions, weakness, seizures, and most recently, periods of unexplained unconsciousness.

 

Connected to a traumatic incident at school and ongoing bullying, Connor has recently moved schools, commenced treatments, and tried to continue life as normal, but symptoms haven’t eased.

 

On the morning of the 21st of February (and many mornings since) Tania and her family went through something no family should ever have to go through. Starting as a normal day getting the kids ready, Steve (Tania’s husband) was unable to wake Connor from his sleep. He was limp, unresponsive, and breathing shallow for over an hour. Another ambulance trip later and Connor is back in the hospital with more expensive tests being run and little answers being provided to the family.

 

The problem is, there is no FND specialist team here in Perth. And because FND is both emotional and physical it takes occupational therapists, physiotherapists, neurologists, psychologists, and psychiatrists, all working together for a treatment plan to take effect. However, with no team here in WA, Tania’s family has paid for each of the specialists individually, on top of moving to a private school; so Connor could have an education assistant and because of the severe bullying which brought this disorder to the surface. Furthermore they have been rejected from NDIS so are having to obtain private medical assistance. All up it is costing the family over $500 a week just for the specialists even with private health cover and the very limited funding that has already been absorbed with the many tests and hospital visits. 

 

It’s not always easy to ask for help, for sometimes there is nothing else to do but reach out. Please donate anything you can spare to help Tania and her family prepare for the long road of treatments in the future. Any donation is much appreciated, and it all adds up. Please share this story to raise awareness of FND so more can be done to support families in need. 

Link to news article  https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/education/ashdale-primary-school-family-to-sue-education-department-over-bullying-that-caused-neurological-disorder-c-6419831

Link to Seven News article  https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=382923923730113&ref=sharing

Please note Connor is not alone and this is a much bigger issue that needs to be addressed. Please see link below to another very similar case. 
Link to another similar story  https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=359118355996448&ref=sharing