Joseph W's quilt    (Quilt Completed)

Thank you

Absolutely over the moon with their beautiful quilts. Lots of love from Joseph & Noah.xxxxxx

Finished photos

Individual squares

Fabric

Card

Stitched by: Sandra

Biography

Joseph was born a healthy happy baby with no signs at all of any illness. He exceeded every milestone and was thriving.

When he was around 2 I noticed he was waking in the night and saying his head was 'hot'. He would sometimes vomit just once during the night and then be fine again.

After months of pushing for the GP to take me seriously Joseph had an MR scan which detected a Chiari Malformation (part of the brain had grown downwards in to the space where your spinal cord passes through the base of your skull).

Joseph had his first decompression surgery at Alder Hey in 2011 where a section of his skull and top vertebrae was removed. Unfortunately Joseph developed post op bacterial meningitis where his body started shutting down. A drain was inserted in to his spine to collect his infected brain fluid in to a bag but sadly the infected caused enough damage for Joseph to develop hydrocephalus. He had his first shunted fitted in September 2011 but it blocked every 4-6 weeks.

Due to increased pressure on the brain it was decided that he would need a subtemporal decompression. A section of skull taking away from the side of his face.

He also now has a programmable shunt with 2 valves to control how he drains his brain fluid both whilst being upright during the day and laying down during the night.

In total Joseph has so far has 15 operations on his brain/skull.

His strength and bravery throughout the last 4 years has been incredible. His determination to live a normal life and to show off his scars with pride intead of hiding them away is truly something else.