A young boy needs a £30,000 operation to help him walk again after he suffered brain damage when he bumped his head reaching for his Advent calendar.
Frankie Duke was just two years old when he put a children’s chair on top of his Thomas the Tank table to get his hands on two Spiderman chocolate calendars his father David, 28, had pinned on his bedroom wall.
But the toddler toppled off and banged his head, causing a bleed on the brain which left him with extensive brain damage.
Plea for support: Frankie Duke (pictured) needs a £30,000 operation to help him walk again after he suffered brain damage when he bumped his head reaching for his Advent calendar
Frankie (pictured with his father David and mother Rachel) was just two years old when he put a children’s chair on top of a table to get his hands on two Advent calendars and fell off
Frankie battled to learn to talk and eat again but has been left unable to walk.
This month his parents Rachel Nesbitt, 28 and David Duke, a ground worker, have been told his only hope of walking again is a £30,000 operation in America not funded by the NHS.
The family from Fareham, Portsmouth, are faced with a race against time to raise the money before he becomes too old for the operation to have maximum success.
‘You b*tch – go back to your girl’: Tycoon’s wife, 62,…
PICTURED: Final victim of Croydon tram disaster was a loving…
Why I believe Attenborough’s RIGHT to show the cruel truth…
Mother-of-two Rachel, a former teacher, said: ‘To see him walk and jump in puddles and play again would be the best thing ever.
‘All the dreams I had for him they are all gone.
‘But they could be back if he has this operation. Even if it can help him walk with sticks it would just be the best thing ever.
‘This time of year does bring back memories of course.
‘We still all really look forward to Christmas – I think because we are just glad to be home and not in hospital. But it is bitter sweet.’
This month Frankie’s parents Rachel Nesbitt, 28 and David Duke, a ground worker, have been told his only hope of walking again is a £30,000 operation in America not funded by the NHS
Receiving treatment: An MRI and a CT scan revealed Frankie had a bleed on the brain and he was airlifted to Southampton General Hospital where surgeons performed a craniotomy
Determined: Frankie battled to learn to talk and eat again but has been left unable to walk
Frankie had just finished his dinner when his mother put his Thomas the Tank children’s table and chair set in his bedroom while she did the washing up.
In a matter of seconds he had gone in and it is thought he stacked the chair on top of the table and climbed up to get his hands on Advent calendars pinned to his wall.
His mother heard a thud and ran in to find the youngster on the floor with a sore head and comforted him, on November 16 2014.
‘The chair was on the floor and he was on the floor,’ she said.
‘I picked him up and he was fine.’
She didn’t suspect anything was seriously wrong but asked her mother, a nurse, to call by the house, and the pair called 111 as a precaution when he unusually asked to go to bed.
First responders and an ambulance attended, but medics didn’t find anything which worried them.
But just they were leaving Frankie suffered a seizure and went stiff in his mother’s arms, so was rushed to hospital where he was put on a ventilator.
Recalling the terrifying ordeal, Ms Nesbitt, who also has a daughter Ella, three months, said: ‘His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he went stiff.
‘I didn’t realise it was life or death until we arrived at the hospital and someone said “we are doing everything we can”.
‘I was so shocked. I was hysterical.
Recovery: Frankie’s parents were initially told he had just a 10 per cent chance of survival after his pupils became unresponsive, but after ten days in a coma he slowly came around
But the bleed had put pressure on Frankie’s brain and caused damage to it, Ms Nesbitt said
‘We just wanted him to live. As long as he lived we could work through anything else.’
An MRI and a CT scan revealed Frankie had a bleed on the brain and he was airlifted to Southampton General Hospital where surgeons performed a craniotomy to remove it.
His parents were initially told he had just a 10 per cent chance of survival after his pupils became unresponsive, but after ten days in a coma he slowly came around.
But the bleed had put pressure on his brain and caused damage, Ms Nesbitt said.
During a five-month stint in hospital Frankie learned to talk and eat again and had intensive physiotherapy to help him move his limbs.
But he has been left with spasticity in his legs – an tightening or increased muscle tone caused by disrupted signals from the brain.
He is one of very few children in the UK who have the condition after an acquired brain injury, rather than cerebral palsy.
Ongoing treatment: During a five-month stint in hospital Frankie learned to talk and eat again and had intensive physiotherapy to help him move his limbs
Appeal for help: The family from Fareham, Portsmouth, are faced with a race against time to raise the money before he becomes too old for the operation to have maximum success
Frankie’s parents have been told the only cure is selective dorsal rhizotomy – the division of nerves as they enter the spinal cord to free up the constricted muscles.
NHS England does not currently fund SDR surgery and is currently evaluating 120 children who had the operation recently to decide on future funding.
But Ms Nesbitt said this could take years and Frankie – who needs the operation now to guarantee maximum success – still might not be eligible.
‘We have been told if he doesn’t have the SDR he will not walk independently,’ she said.
‘He was very sporty, he loved playing golf with his dad, riding his bike and jumping in puddles and would love the chance to be able to do that again.
‘I heard him say the other day “I can’t walk at the moment but one day” and we just want to make that happen for him.’
To donate click here.