The family of an 11-year-old boy whose life was saved by Great Ormond Street Hospital (Gosh) say they are “forever indebted” to its staff as they prepare to join thousands of people for a fundraising run.
Steph and Sam Gale, their son Harrison and his brother Joshua, 16, and sister Bella, eight, will take part in the RBC Race for the Kids in Hyde Park, central London, on Saturday October 11.
The event comes six months after Harrison had successful brain surgery for an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) – a rare and life-threatening condition where blood vessels in the brain become dangerously tangled.
“We are forever indebted to Great Ormond Street,” Sam, 41, told the PA news agency.
Steph, also 41, added: “We’re extremely lucky. That’s why we are doing the race. I don’t know what else you give back.
“We’re now part of this really lovely community, people that have been treated at Great Ormond Street or have had this kind of trauma.”
Harrison, from Isleworth, west London, became ill on Boxing Day evening last year.
His parents thought he had norovirus as he was lethargic and being sick, but when the “excruciating” headaches continued for several days, they took him to West Middlesex University Hospital. His vital signs appeared normal but they were told he might be dehydrated.
Harrison seemed to be improving but in early January he was sick in bed, woke up screaming because of the pain in his head and kept collapsing when he tried to walk.
He was taken back to his local hospital where his vital signs again seemed fine.
“One doctor came on shift and she said, ‘We’re just going to do a CT scan, it will probably be nothing’,” Steph said.
Soon after the scan they were told Harrison had suffered a bleed on the brain and Gosh wanted to see him.
“We all just broke down,” his mother said. “Harrison was out of it, really not aware of what’s going on.”
He arrived at Gosh in the middle of the night and was initially taken to intensive care while waiting for a bed on Koala Ward.
Steph said “we were zombies at this point” but praised the hospital staff for explaining what was happening and for giving them the keys for accommodation where they could get some rest.
“Unless you know Great Ormond Street and you’d been through it, I had no idea they had all these amazing things, that we could just be next door,” she said.
The family were told that Harrison was probably born with the AVM, pressure had caused the bleed and he would be treated by world-renowned specialists Dulanka Silva and Greg James.
“Knowing that was pretty amazing,” Steph said.
“At that point we were both like, ‘OK, we’re not going to Google this and we’ve just got to put our trust in these specialists that know so much’.”
Doctors had to wait for the swelling to go down before they could get an accurate picture of the AVM and advise on the next steps.
As the family waited, Harrison was able to move into his own room on Koala Ward and then go home to return to a relatively normal life.
He was very weak and could not walk for long periods but gradually became stronger.
There was “panic stations” when he had a headache and was taken back to West Middlesex University Hospital where a scan and a call to Gosh ruled out any further bleed.
Steph said: “The initial doctor who had said, ‘Let’s just do a CT scan, just in case, it’ll be nothing’, she happened to be on call and she popped in and she said, ‘Do you remember me?’
“I just broke down into tears and I was like, ‘You’ve saved his life’.
“That was quite a special moment.”
When the swelling was gone and the AVM could be assessed, consultants at Gosh said the best way forward was an embolisation to glue the blood vessels before surgery the following day to remove it.
“Obviously again we put our trust in them. By this point they were like gods to us,” Steph said.
Initially planned for the end of February, the procedures had to be delayed and finally took place at the end of March.
“It’s the first time I have ever felt helpless,” Sam said.
Steph said saying goodbye to Harrison before his surgery “was the hardest thing”.
“We didn’t know if we were going to see him again. And that was really tough. I held it together until he went to sleep then we just both broke down.”
Ten hours later, with Harrison in recovery, Mr Silva came out to see them.
Steph said: “He was wearing a mask but had a big smile on his face and he said, ‘It’s all gone to plan, got it all out, couldn’t have gone any better’. That was the most amazing news.”
After some physio to address a slight weakness in his left side following the bleed, Harrison is back to a normal life and joined his classmates for a four-day school trip to Italy in June.
“It was unbelievable that 12 weeks after having potentially life-threatening surgery he was able to go on a trip to Rome,” his mother said.
“He was able to do sports day, all those things.
“He’s got a pretty big incision, it starts at the top of his head and all the way down to the back of his neck, way bigger than we thought.
“He was quite self-conscious when we came home but we had a chat and I just said, ‘This is part of your story now, you should be proud of that incision because it saved your life’.
“When he went into school the first time, I caught him talking to his friends and he was like, ‘I’m the reverse Harry Potter, I’ve got a scar on the back’.
“He’s not self-conscious, he’s just like, ‘This has happened to me’.”
There is a slight risk that a new AVM could form while Harrison’s brain develops so he will have an MRI scan every year for next 10 years but the couple say they feel “so lucky”.
Harrison is settling into his new secondary school after celebrating his 11th birthday in August with a family holiday to Santorini.
“It’s a fresh start for him. He’s back to being a normal Year 7,” Steph said.
“His birthday was particularly poignant for us because we didn’t think we were going to get to his birthday.
“To see him jumping off boats and having no fear to do that was really special and emotional.”
The family will mark the anniversary of Harrison first becoming ill with a trip to Thailand for Christmas.
“The anniversary of it all starting, it will help to be away,” said Steph, an events planning manager.
“We were really lucky he was young and to have Great Ormond Street and to have the specialists there. We were in the best hands.”
Sam said: “We had a horrendous three, four months and you’ve got some parents go through two years, three years, 10 years, 20 years of stuff like this.”
He praised staff on Koala Ward and added: “Koalas are now my favourite animal, will be forever.
“Every human on that ward was just unbelievable.
“We just felt part of the family and everyone really cared.”
Sam, who is head of commercial for UK and Ireland for IMG, selling sports television rights, hopes to one day thank Arsenal fan Mr Silva by taking him to a match with Harrison.
The family make a monthly donation to Gosh Charity, which supports the hospital, and have already raised more than £7,000 in sponsorship for the 5km RBC Race for the Kids.
“We chose this because we can all do it together. And it’s a really lovely family event,” Steph said.
“I think Harrison will feel quite proud about wearing a T-shirt and being part of the Great Ormond Street family now. It will be really nice, special, probably quite emotional.”
She added: “All of our friends have now signed up and they are bringing their dogs and babies in buggies. We went through this together, all of us were affected in some way.”
Sam said the hospital has been “the most important place in the world” for the family, adding: “We’re raising money but we’re celebrating at the same time.”
RBC Race for the Kids is raising funds to help Gosh Charity build a world-leading new children’s cancer centre at Great Ormond Street. To get involved or to find out more, visit race.gosh.org
To sponsor the Gale family, visit: https://race.gosh.org/fundraisers/teamharrison/rbc-race-for-the-kids
