31 December 2003

Major illness and big distances

By Michelle Pearce

2003 Winner
A typical 10-year-old boy and his class are playing soccer on a warm October day.

The boy's name is Andrew, he's an active boy who loves swimming, athletics, and any other sport. But today as his classmates kick and cheer after scoring, he sits on the sidelines too tired to play.

The bell rings, and as he walks the 200 metres to his house, he falls once, twice, three times.

Arriving home, he mentions what happens and falls asleep on the couch.

His sister says he's lying just to get out of swimming training.

That night he goes to bed early saying he's tired. Everyone puts it down to "back to training tiredness".

The next morning his sister and mum go to early training.

They return to find Andrew and his Dad both worried. His Dad says he found him crawling to the bathroom because his legs weren't working.

Standing him up, Andrew just falls into a pile on the floor. A trip to the hospital is a must.

His sisters go to school thinking everything will be ok. They get a call 'They don't know what's wrong... flying him to Alice... I'll let you know.'

Later his Dad rings 'Flying us to Adelaide... think its something called Guilliane Barre Syndrome'.

The family search the net, what they find isn't good.

It destroys the casing of the nerves, causing the patient to lose control of their body.

In some cases patients need life support to stay alive. No one knows the cause.

His Mum drives the 500kms to Alice the next day and then flies to Adelaide. The girls are left alone, scared, wondering whether they will ever see their little brother again.

A month later he has clung to his life, although with many hurdles to go. He returns to his home state from Adelaide, but remains 500km away from family for treatment.

"He'll need a ramp at home, something permanent... don't know how long he'll be in the wheelchair," the doctor instructs the family.

A fundraising event is organised.

In Andrew's small town everyone pulls together to help. Enough money is raised for the ramp and physiotherapy equipment.

Remaining funds go to the Ronald McDonald house in Adelaide where his parents stayed for that long month.

The family travel to spend Christmas with him.

He has a present for them. With the aid of a large awkward walking frame, he can walk again.

A step that can take months, even years. Soon he will be home.

Three months after contracting the syndrome he returns home.

By April, months of physiotherapy and hard work have paid off. He no longer needs the wheelchair, and he's back at school.

It's hard, he can't hold a pencil because his hands are weak but he tries his best. He watches from the sidelines as his team scores.

It has taken two long hard years but he is again an active boy.

The splints on his legs, and the trouble with his hands don't stop him doing what he wants.

He's at High School now.

There has been another case of the syndrome in this town of 2500 people.

They say it is a one in a thousand chance of getting it.

It's amazing that in this small town, two people could have been so unlucky.

The school had their sports carnival last week and I stood with my fellow students as we cheered him over the finish line of the 1500-metre run.

It almost made me cry thinking about how much he has gone through, and how proud I am of my little brother.
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