Hi My name is Val I’m fundraising for my son Sebastian spinal stem cell surgery in Utah USA.

I really don’t want to be doing this asking for help asking for donations but really want to help my son get the correct treatment to help his pain, help him avoid extremely invasive surgery that could possibly paralyse him.

My son had a back injury in January 2023 in school playing football with his friend at lunch time. He jumped up, on landing he didn’t fully Bend his legs and felt like his legs went up into his spine ( his words)

he was in a lot of pain i took him to the local hospital a day later who did an X-ray said nothing was seen maybe a pulled muscle.

Two weeks past his pain got worse after numerous visits to the hospital X-ray, MRI, CT scans done nothing apparently can be seen. over a few weeks/ month being told it could be pulled muscle, torn muscle, maybe arthritis like his big sister . Sent home on paracetamol and Ibuprofen.

We tried numerous things to help physio, massage, infa red sauna, hot and cold treatments, heat rubs, different pain relief. Nothing helped.

I demanded a second opinion and help with Sebastian’s pain at another hospital. Finally referred for a second opinion after waiting nearly a year for the second opinion we finally got an appointment which was cancelled.

4 moths later after numerous calls and me having to go mad for any help for my sons pain and more trips to A&E, finally got another appointment but a telephone appointment what help that was, absolute waste of time they couldn’t see my son and how the daily pain was effecting him and his mental health. He was depressed a 13/14 year old boy having to stop playing the only thing he enjoyed Rugby being accepted into a rugby academy and not being able to do it. Really took a toll on him. Struggling in school in pain not being able to go out with his friends.

After over a year July 2024 we finally get a face to face appointment at the second hospital to be told he had actually fractured his spine and the first hostial should have picked this up as it’s was seen on the X-rays, mri and ct scan that were taken the year before in March 2023 he was misdiagnosed at the first hospital and if they had seen it and treated it correctly at the time he could have fully healed with being so young. They told us try strong painkillers see if they help, however nothing helped. The hostial said as it had been so long the damage was done and he would need surgery straight away.

Me being me likes to research anything and don’t like to do things without knowing fully about it. The hospital were fine with it and asked if we wanted to try steroid injections to help ease pain. My son wanted to try this but it only helped with pain for a week.

Fast forward to March 2025 the hosptial discussed the surgery and said it’s the only way forward to prevent his spine slipping and paralysing him, which is very risky putting rods and pins in his spine to secure it from cause if more damage and could also possibly cause paralysis from the waist down, he will need numerous surgeries over the years and more rods and pins in the rest of his spine as it will cause above and below the first surgery to become weak. Very invasive surgery he would have months of not being able to do anything may struggle to walk or learn to walk again. Also this isn’t Guaranteed to ease his pain.

My son didn’t want to do it obviously scared that he will become Paralysed at the age of 15 he said if that happened he would end his life. I was devastated to hear this absolutely heartbroken.

I’ve researched more and found stem cell treatment in America which has upto 90% success rate for this type of spinal fracture and relieve pain especially with him being so young, I’ve looked at it all spoken to the Specialist that does the treatment and this seems the only safest treatment going forward.

After speaking to the specialist in Utah he viewed my son’s recent images and said his left side SI Joint is now taking a massive impact showing inflammation and moving ope. Because of his left side L5 spinal fracture.

People do see Sebastian going the gym all the time most days, this is because he has to to keep his back muscles strong to support his spine to keep it in place if he didn’t go each day his spine would become worse and could slip to paralyse him.

He takes daily strong painkillers, tens machine on his back all day every day, physio each month to check he is doing everything correctly, awaiting acupuncture also to see if it helps.

All this will be taken away with stem cell treatment. Where as invasive treatment pins and screws wouldn’t.

A little about stem cell treatment

Stem cell therapy, also known as regenerative medicine, promotes the repair response of diseased, dysfunctional or injured tissue using stem cells or their derivatives. It's used to treat conditions like arthritis, spinal cord injuries, and heart disease.

I’ve been told by Many People over this last year to do this gofund me page however haven’t wanted too as I don’t like to ask for money but feel like there is no option but to do this in hope to get his stem cell treatment done soon.

Thankyou so much for reading my sons story Thankyou for your generous contributions to help my son in potentially life changing treatment. Any amount you make big or small will make a significant difference. Thankyou for your support and now being part of my son’s journey towards better health.