WHO WE ARE

Hi I'm Nikki, Harry's mum. Harry is 10 years old and lives in Fleet with myself, his Dad and 3 brothers. Harry is such a kind, caring and happy boy. He thoroughly enjoys school. His passion and love in life is for Football and he plays for U10 Hawks team at Fleet Spurs. He just loves being active.

For those that don't know Harry or our family, this is our story so far ..........

One day back in 2018 while Harry was getting changed I noticed that one of his shoulder blades was sticking out more than the other and he had a raised lump on the right hand side of his ribs. The GP told us that Harry has early onset scoliosis and instantly referred him to Frimley Park Hospital, where we met with an orthopaedic consultant. Harry had a full spinal x-ray showing a right thoracic 35 degree curve of his spine. After examining Harry he was then referred to a specialist consultant at Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital Stanmore where he is now reviewed every few months.

Harry has to go for regular EOS scans as they have reduced radiation compared to a normal x-ray. In the 6 months between our December appointment in 2018 and June 2019 Harry's curve had unfortunately progressed from 35 degrees to 42 degrees.

This then lead to Harry having to be fitted for a Boston brace to try and stabilise the progression of Harry's curve. Harry was happy that he was able to choose the football pattern of the brace! He has to wear this for 23 hours every day. It does restrict him obviously from being able to do some normal day to day things, such as bending over to tie his shoelaces.

During the consultants meetings we have discussed various options but we were advised that VBT (Vertebral Body Tethering) is the best treatment that would help Harry live a much less hindered life and enable him to carry on with his great love of sport. This surgery is now practiced regularly in Philadelphia U.S.A at the charitable organisation, Shriners. As you can imagine, we couldn't believe our luck when Harry's consultant informed us that due to his age and increased development of his curve, he had been chosen as an ideal candidate to travel to Philadelphia for the operation.

Harry's next appointment with his consultant is in April 2020 where they will take another x-ray of his spine and review his situation and as you can imagine we will have lots to discuss.

In the meantime though, our family and friends have got together and set up a fundraising group to help all of us. So many wonderful people have given up their time and parted with their hard earned money to enable us to be able to afford the flights, car hire, insurance, food and accommodation for roughly up to a 2 month stay in America (until Harry's recovery period is confirmed a success). Until April 2020, our next consultants meeting, we are unsure of the exact costs but all we do know at this moment is that we are hoping the operation will take part later this year.

On behalf of Harry and our family, we would like to say a HUGE thank you to EVERYONE who has taken Harry to their hearts, we really can't express how much it means to us all.

With love,

Nikki