Help with Jacob’s rehab
Donation protected
Jacob and his wife Waka and daughter Matia were in Japan for the school holidays.
On Tuesday 23rd January, a couple of hours before their flight home to Australia, Jacob complained of a headache and vomited.
Within 5 minutes he was unconcsious and Waka was unable to wake him.
Fortunately due to Waka’s quick thinking, the ambulance came within 10 minutes and he was rushed to hospital.
The Doctors performed a CT scan and discovered massive brain hemmorages on both sides of his brain.
He was put into an induced coma and rushed to emergency surgery.
Waka was told to prepare to say goodbye and asked by the Doctors to bring his family to the ICU and prepare for the worst.
The first surgery was a success with a tube placed to relieve the pressure and bleeding.
He has fortunately survived the first 48 hours and a couple of good signs of arm movement and breathing slightly on his own while on life support. He is a fighter and we are sure he will come through this.
He is still in the ICU but has been downgraded today from critical to critical-stable.
The condition is called AVM - artery vascular malformation in his brain and it is extremely dangerous.
He is currently in CHIKAMORI hospital, Kochi City, kochi, Japan.
Myself and my family all arrived today Thurs 24th in Japan and met with the Doctors.
They provided us a lot of information and fortunately spoke good English.
The next Surgery is tomorrow (Australia day) at 1:30 for 3 hours to try close off as many blood vessels and veins around the AVM. Using super glue and also a stent sent through artery in leg up to the brain.
The more they can do tomorrow the better for Monday surgery as it means a better chance of being successful.
The second surgery is on Monday 29th Jan at 9am.
Expected to be 10+ hours and possibly up to 20 hours.
Here they will remove the AVM (malformed artery area) then reconnect all the veins and vessels with other side. Long grueling micro procedure with 3 brain surgeons working.
The primary neurosurgeon doing the operation is head of neurology and is confident but has also made sure we know the risks are critical.
Both surgeries are super high risk.
Stroke and swelling after would be disaster and stroke is very common on a clot afterwards.
Surgery has to be done though as if the AVM ruptures or bleeds again it would be fatal.
If Jacob can make it past Monday’s surgery with no swelling then we can start to look at bringing him out of coma and then recovery with the road to rehab.
Jacob did not have any medical insurance for the trip, so all procedures and the hospital stay will need to be paid.
Waka is prepared to sell the house to pay for everything, however I thought we could reach out to the Canberra community to help raise funds to support Waka and Jacob.
Every cent raised will go directly to Waka to pay for the hospital bill and further rehab once Jacob is on the road to recovery, as well as the time off work.
The entire Burridge family appreciates any support you can give. Jacob means so much to all of us, and the many schools he has worked at in Canberra would all know how much a shining light he is.
I will update this post as surgeries go and provide as much news as we can to those following along at home.
All funds received will go to Jacobs wife Waka to cover medical costs and ongoing costs in rehabilitation.
Thank you all.
On Tuesday 23rd January, a couple of hours before their flight home to Australia, Jacob complained of a headache and vomited.
Within 5 minutes he was unconcsious and Waka was unable to wake him.
Fortunately due to Waka’s quick thinking, the ambulance came within 10 minutes and he was rushed to hospital.
The Doctors performed a CT scan and discovered massive brain hemmorages on both sides of his brain.
He was put into an induced coma and rushed to emergency surgery.
Waka was told to prepare to say goodbye and asked by the Doctors to bring his family to the ICU and prepare for the worst.
The first surgery was a success with a tube placed to relieve the pressure and bleeding.
He has fortunately survived the first 48 hours and a couple of good signs of arm movement and breathing slightly on his own while on life support. He is a fighter and we are sure he will come through this.
He is still in the ICU but has been downgraded today from critical to critical-stable.
The condition is called AVM - artery vascular malformation in his brain and it is extremely dangerous.
He is currently in CHIKAMORI hospital, Kochi City, kochi, Japan.
Myself and my family all arrived today Thurs 24th in Japan and met with the Doctors.
They provided us a lot of information and fortunately spoke good English.
The next Surgery is tomorrow (Australia day) at 1:30 for 3 hours to try close off as many blood vessels and veins around the AVM. Using super glue and also a stent sent through artery in leg up to the brain.
The more they can do tomorrow the better for Monday surgery as it means a better chance of being successful.
The second surgery is on Monday 29th Jan at 9am.
Expected to be 10+ hours and possibly up to 20 hours.
Here they will remove the AVM (malformed artery area) then reconnect all the veins and vessels with other side. Long grueling micro procedure with 3 brain surgeons working.
The primary neurosurgeon doing the operation is head of neurology and is confident but has also made sure we know the risks are critical.
Both surgeries are super high risk.
Stroke and swelling after would be disaster and stroke is very common on a clot afterwards.
Surgery has to be done though as if the AVM ruptures or bleeds again it would be fatal.
If Jacob can make it past Monday’s surgery with no swelling then we can start to look at bringing him out of coma and then recovery with the road to rehab.
Jacob did not have any medical insurance for the trip, so all procedures and the hospital stay will need to be paid.
Waka is prepared to sell the house to pay for everything, however I thought we could reach out to the Canberra community to help raise funds to support Waka and Jacob.
Every cent raised will go directly to Waka to pay for the hospital bill and further rehab once Jacob is on the road to recovery, as well as the time off work.
The entire Burridge family appreciates any support you can give. Jacob means so much to all of us, and the many schools he has worked at in Canberra would all know how much a shining light he is.
I will update this post as surgeries go and provide as much news as we can to those following along at home.
All funds received will go to Jacobs wife Waka to cover medical costs and ongoing costs in rehabilitation.
Thank you all.
Organizer
Thomas Clifton
Organizer
Kaleen ACT
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