BiographyZack was born at 37 weeks after a very difficult pregnancy. Zack was 8lb 2.5oz when born, he suffered with dangerously high levels of jaundice and then infections due to Strep B. At a few days old he got sepsis and meningitis but amazingly recovered and after a few weeks he got to come home.
Zack was an amazing baby, breastfed until he was 1, was a wonderful sleeper and always a happy baby. When he was 6 months old he began weaning but started to become very ill very quickly and at 9 months old he had lost so much weight he weighed the same as a newborn baby. Finally it was figured out Zack had a lot of food allergies and is anaphylactic to a lot of things. Zack also suffered with ear infections from birth which at some points would be so bad they would cause problems to his throat and he would struggle to breathe. He was still always a happy baby no matter what he was going through.
In July 2020 Zack was 3 years old and all of a sudden he couldn't stop blinking all of the time. Eventually he was diagnosed with a tic of the eye. In March 2021 one of his eyes had turned in to face his nose, then his walking became unstable and Zack was falling over all the time. He was referred to an eye specialist but 5 days later I took him to A&E. The doctors were very concerned and the next day Zack was put to sleep for an MRI scan. This showed lots of swelling on the brain and Zack was diagnosed with ADEM, an infection on the brain, and was then sent to a children's hospital in Liverpool. He stayed for a few weeks and was on steroids and antibiotics. Zack was then sent home on a 6 week course of steroids. Sadly in May 2021, just 1 week after Zack had finished his course of steroids, he collapsed at nursery and started having seizures. He was then rushed to his local hospital and had to be put into an induced coma and transferred to another hospital. On the 12th May Zack had to have a brain biopsy to find out what was happening and why he was getting worse instead of better.
On Wednesday 19th May we were heartbroken to be told he had brain tumours on and all around his brain. The tumours are cancer and sadly there was nothing that anyone could do for Zack and that he had less than 6 months to live. We were sent home from hospital and told to spend as much time as possible together before he passes away.
Zack is 8 & half months on from being given his diagnosis. He is very poorly but has managed to spend time and make memories with his family and is due to turn 5 in 3 weeks. Zack never got to start school or learn to ride a bike or do the normal things a child his age can do and his family are having to prepare to say goodbye to their beautiful boy soon. Eventually we will have to tell his brothers and little sister what is going to happen but for now we are just grateful for every day we get with Zack.
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