Let's Help Scott Casson-Rennie's Recovery Journey

For those few people that aren’t aware, Scott is well-known as one half of the adoption and fostering podcast alongside his buddy Al Coates. With his husband Tris, he’s an adoptive parent to three boys. In both paid and unpaid roles, Scott is passionate about changing the narratives around adoption and raising awareness of issues related to adoption.

On Sunday 14th March, Scott was taken ill unexpectedly and rushed to Cork hospital by Air Ambulance. He was found to have two brain aneurysms and the first 24 hours were critical. To everybody’s great relief, the staff of the intensive care unit were able to stabilise Scott enough to be able to carry out surgery to seal the aneurysms and stop the bleeding. The surgery took almost eight hours during which time a further two aneurysms were also found and sealed.

It is a huge relief that Scott has made it through the surgery but now he has a long road to recovery. Initially he has 10 days (at least) on the High Dependency Unit before he can then be transferred to a general ward. While Scott is sporadically back with us on twitter and facebook, he is still physically extremely ill. There is still swelling on the brain and he’s vulnerable to further bleeds. It isn’t clear yet whether there’s any permanent damage and if so what that means for Scott, Tris and the boys. Even with the best possible outcome, Scott has six months recovery ahead.

Obviously Tris and the boys are just happy and relieved to have Scott here, something that really wasn’t to be taken for granted a few days ago. They aren’t thinking about the money they’re having to spend travelling to and from a hospital that’s four hours away from where they live, and all the other costs associated with having a family member sick and hospitalised. They also aren’t thinking about the impact of lost earnings for Scott, and possibly Tris, in the months ahead.

As friends of Scott and the family, we wanted to do something to help take some of the financial stress away from Tris, who is holding everything together and keeping life ticking over for their children. We also wanted to give Scott one less thing to have to think about so he can put all his efforts into prioritising his recovery. We know that we aren’t the only ones who love and care for Scott and the family and will be wondering about how they might be able to help, so we decided to set up this crowdfunding page for anybody that wants to donate something. Any amount will be greatly appreciated.

We’re confident that lots of people will want to join us in wishing Scott the very best of health in the future. Thank you so much.

Paula and Elaine