I'm Sean's father, Daniel. Last April Sean was practicing baseball with his team, the Orange Crush. He told the coach he was feeling hot and went to the dugout for a drink of water. When I got to him in the dugout he was stutterring and walking uneasily as if dizzy. He said he was hot and then said he was cold. I took him off the field and decided to take him out for pizza. While ordering food, his energy dropped to the point he could barely hold his head up and he couldn't make any clear words, just stuttering sounds. I cancelled the order and proceeded to leave but Sean couldn't walk at all so I had to carry him to the truck. We went straight to Delta Hospital emergency. The medical team there quickly contacted the team at Children's Hospital in Vancouver and a transfer was quickly arranged.

A week of intensive testing followed. Some of it scaring Sean terribly. The neurology team was in charge of directing his care. He was finally diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder. A condition where the brain disconnects from the body. The cause, stress. Basically, Sean was so stressed from a variety of reasons that his brain and body disconnected. While in hospital, Sean started physiotherapy and in three days he went from not being able to walk at all to walking about twenty five feet with support from his physiotherapist. Shortly after, Sean was released.

That was seven weeks ago at the end of April.

He is back at school half days. He can't walk unassisted so the school has provided a full-time education assistant to help him get around and monitor his energy levels. The medical team at Children's Hospital suggested not using mobility assists like wheelchairs or walkers extensively as they slow down the rehabilitation time. The staff and students at Holly school are wonderfully supportive of Sean.

Additionally Sean is in counselling to help him become better equipped to manage his stress.

He suffers from non-epileptic seizures from time to time, drastic and profound energy drops, dizziness, occasional stuttering and occasional blurred vision.

The doctors at Children's Hospital believe Sean has an excellent chance of a full recovery. They can't put a time frame on rehabilitation. Some patients recover in a few months, some require a few years.

Funstional Neurological Disoprder is a somatization disorder. The brain and body experience a partial disonnection. As Sean puts it, "Sometimes my brain sends messages to my body that get jumbled."

Two good sources of information on FND are here:

Mayo clinic FND

Children's Hospital - Kelty Mental Health

Sean is cuurently in physiotherapy and counselling. He is doing fair in physio, progressing slowly but surely. He has more challenges with stress and has had a few visits to his counsellor. This work is definitely more challenging but ultimately most important.

Sean will continue with both his counselling and physio. We may try to include equine therapy. We have an upcoming appointment with a registered clinical counselor who uses horses to help in therapy.

Please help Sean get back to baseball, aviation, running around the playground at school with his friends and all the other things he loves to do.