Please help Jett walk again
Donation protected
My sister Kylie and brother-in-law Jeff have had a really tough time lately because of their son, Jett, my nephew. Jett was severely injured on the 7th July while helping his Dad tidy up their property mowing with a ride-on lawn mower with a trailer attached. Jett is a 7yo boy and was going between helping his Poppy Bruce plant trees and his Dad mowing & picking up rubbish and bits of wood putting them in the trailer behind the mower.
Jett had wandered up to the side of the mower approx 1/2m away and slipped on some mud from the previous few days rain. His right foot went straight under the blades of the ride-on mower, tearing it to shreds.
Jeff quickly jumped off the mower, lifting it up to free Jett's leg, however the blades had torn his small work boots of and torn into his right foot. As soon as Jeff had seen the damaged foot he grabbed the wound, took off his shirt and wrapped it around to apply pressure to stem the blood gushing from a torn artery and rushed him to hospital with Jett's Poppy driving.
Jett's foot was severely damaged with torn flesh, bone and tendons visible and if it hadn't been for work boots, Jeff always insisted he wore, he would have lost his foot completely.
Jett was stabilised at Port Macquarie Hospital by an amazing medical team in the Emergency Department and had his first emergency surgery there. First thing the following morning he was then flown to the Royal North Shore hospital where he underwent another surgery with the Orthopaedic and Plastic surgeons, followed by another transfer to The Sydney Children’s Hospital under the same surgeons from Royal North Shore. Over the following few days Jett had a total of five surgeries to treat his injuries.
These surgeries culminated in a 8-hour surgery where plastic surgeons took a full thickness skin flap graft with muscle and veins, plus a normal skin graft, from his left thigh and hip. During this surgery the orthopaedic surgeons also managed to re-attach his severed achilles tendon by piecing together the shattered fragments of his heel bone at the end of the achelles and connecting that to the good part of the tendon further up the back of his foot. Although this was successful they were unable to rebuild the heel bone itself and Jett still remains without a heel, only having a small sharp point section left to weight-bare on. Ourselves and surgeons are still unsure if this will be enough for him to be able to walk with again,
His mum Kylie, a registered nurse, is so grateful to the wonderful staff who helped save her little boy's foot. Putting it back together was a combined effort between those orthopaedic and plastic surgeons. She is particularly grateful to plastic surgeon, Dr Richard Atkinson. The Trauma nurses Sarah and Claire and Social Worker Anna were also amazing support to Jett, Kylie and Jeff during their time at Sydney Children's Hospital and who continue to support them to date.
The Trauma Nurse and Starlight Foundation even threw a seventh birthday party for Jett in the Starlight room when he was stable enough after his surgery as he'd missed his own birthday party which was supposed to be the day after the accident.
Jett, a keen soccer player and an active young man, has spent these months since the accident in a wheelchair & advice from the orthopaedic team was that Jett won't be able to start walking for at least six to eight months, He is desperate to run around again. He faces more surgery in the coming months and his foot will not be back to any form of normality for an estimated two to two-and-a-half years.
Kylie is devastated at what happened to her little boy but proud of how strong he has been, although he has had nightmares and has understandably broken down quite a few times. It's not only the damage to his foot but also to his mental state having to watch his family and friends running around playing which has caused alot of frustration and heartbreak for the once extremely active boy.
Kylie has been unable to work since the freak accident as Jett has needed care 24/7. He was not able to attend school due to his injury and regular dressings changes, three times a day, needing to keep up with his pain medication and provide much needed emotional support.
Jett has since returned to school, starting out on a casual basis, and has had to have his own support teacher organised to assist with his care and movement around the school. Although Jett continues to improve and return to some form of a normal life he still requires therapy three times a day. In addition, Jett still had to make the five-hour trip by car to Sydney Children’s Hospital every two weeks in order for Jett's foot to be assessed and have physio to slowly stretch his achilles tendon back to normal from the footdrop position before they even thought about him starting to walk again.
These trips to Sydney are now every four weeks as he has progressed far quicker than the surgeons anticipated due to his determination and good spirits. Jett's foot is now back in the normal position & only four weeks ago, to their surprise, had a cam boot fitted & took his first steps since the accident.
We are asking for help for my sisters family-of-five, who are continuing to do it tough. Medical expenses, petrol bills, Kylie being unable to work as a nurse and having no income, and Jeff needing time off regularly to assist Kylie with Jett's cares and drive Jett to Sydney regularly have all mounted up and are really struggling financially. Whatever you can donate to Kylie and her family would be gratefully received.
We will continue to update you all on Jett's progress as time goes by. In January we will find out when Jett will require further surgery for his heel bone, he may need some kind of graft or cementing, but we will keep you all up to date as soon as we find out from his Sydney teams.
Jett had wandered up to the side of the mower approx 1/2m away and slipped on some mud from the previous few days rain. His right foot went straight under the blades of the ride-on mower, tearing it to shreds.
Jeff quickly jumped off the mower, lifting it up to free Jett's leg, however the blades had torn his small work boots of and torn into his right foot. As soon as Jeff had seen the damaged foot he grabbed the wound, took off his shirt and wrapped it around to apply pressure to stem the blood gushing from a torn artery and rushed him to hospital with Jett's Poppy driving.
Jett's foot was severely damaged with torn flesh, bone and tendons visible and if it hadn't been for work boots, Jeff always insisted he wore, he would have lost his foot completely.
Jett was stabilised at Port Macquarie Hospital by an amazing medical team in the Emergency Department and had his first emergency surgery there. First thing the following morning he was then flown to the Royal North Shore hospital where he underwent another surgery with the Orthopaedic and Plastic surgeons, followed by another transfer to The Sydney Children’s Hospital under the same surgeons from Royal North Shore. Over the following few days Jett had a total of five surgeries to treat his injuries.
These surgeries culminated in a 8-hour surgery where plastic surgeons took a full thickness skin flap graft with muscle and veins, plus a normal skin graft, from his left thigh and hip. During this surgery the orthopaedic surgeons also managed to re-attach his severed achilles tendon by piecing together the shattered fragments of his heel bone at the end of the achelles and connecting that to the good part of the tendon further up the back of his foot. Although this was successful they were unable to rebuild the heel bone itself and Jett still remains without a heel, only having a small sharp point section left to weight-bare on. Ourselves and surgeons are still unsure if this will be enough for him to be able to walk with again,
His mum Kylie, a registered nurse, is so grateful to the wonderful staff who helped save her little boy's foot. Putting it back together was a combined effort between those orthopaedic and plastic surgeons. She is particularly grateful to plastic surgeon, Dr Richard Atkinson. The Trauma nurses Sarah and Claire and Social Worker Anna were also amazing support to Jett, Kylie and Jeff during their time at Sydney Children's Hospital and who continue to support them to date.
The Trauma Nurse and Starlight Foundation even threw a seventh birthday party for Jett in the Starlight room when he was stable enough after his surgery as he'd missed his own birthday party which was supposed to be the day after the accident.
Jett, a keen soccer player and an active young man, has spent these months since the accident in a wheelchair & advice from the orthopaedic team was that Jett won't be able to start walking for at least six to eight months, He is desperate to run around again. He faces more surgery in the coming months and his foot will not be back to any form of normality for an estimated two to two-and-a-half years.
Kylie is devastated at what happened to her little boy but proud of how strong he has been, although he has had nightmares and has understandably broken down quite a few times. It's not only the damage to his foot but also to his mental state having to watch his family and friends running around playing which has caused alot of frustration and heartbreak for the once extremely active boy.
Kylie has been unable to work since the freak accident as Jett has needed care 24/7. He was not able to attend school due to his injury and regular dressings changes, three times a day, needing to keep up with his pain medication and provide much needed emotional support.
Jett has since returned to school, starting out on a casual basis, and has had to have his own support teacher organised to assist with his care and movement around the school. Although Jett continues to improve and return to some form of a normal life he still requires therapy three times a day. In addition, Jett still had to make the five-hour trip by car to Sydney Children’s Hospital every two weeks in order for Jett's foot to be assessed and have physio to slowly stretch his achilles tendon back to normal from the footdrop position before they even thought about him starting to walk again.
These trips to Sydney are now every four weeks as he has progressed far quicker than the surgeons anticipated due to his determination and good spirits. Jett's foot is now back in the normal position & only four weeks ago, to their surprise, had a cam boot fitted & took his first steps since the accident.
We are asking for help for my sisters family-of-five, who are continuing to do it tough. Medical expenses, petrol bills, Kylie being unable to work as a nurse and having no income, and Jeff needing time off regularly to assist Kylie with Jett's cares and drive Jett to Sydney regularly have all mounted up and are really struggling financially. Whatever you can donate to Kylie and her family would be gratefully received.
We will continue to update you all on Jett's progress as time goes by. In January we will find out when Jett will require further surgery for his heel bone, he may need some kind of graft or cementing, but we will keep you all up to date as soon as we find out from his Sydney teams.
Organizer and beneficiary
Jess Smith
Organizer
Kylie Burgess
Beneficiary
