Worthy of Respect


My grandson is 21. He was born on 23rd November 1998 and from that point on has had a complicated and difficult time. Diagnosed with a serious, life-limiting condition at eight months, multiple operations, deafness, physical and learning disabilities, all compounded by meningitis at ten years old (a result of the refusal of his immune system to grow back following two bone marrow transplants in 2000). Along the way, he has refused to stop or slow down and brought joy and laughter to almost everyone that he meets- questioning them about the motorways they use, the day their bins go out, the tram or train stations they use and the supermarkets they shop at. He is now in his second year at college and loves it (his college in Salford integrate the young adults with additional needs with the mainstream students on one campus). He goes out with his adult social services group, a service that has somehow survived repeated cuts by the Tory government and council over the last ten years. Things have been on a fairly even keel in recent years but you can't ever really take things for granted with him (his immune system is still non-existent) so twenty-one is an achievement, a marker, especially for a young man who more than once while in hospital wasn't expected to survive the night.
My thanks to my son-in-law, for the above details. I would like to add my own tribute to this young man. Despite the many facets of his illness, he has never let anything get in the way of those things he has wanted to do. He has undergone 30 operations in his short life and lives with pain, restricted eye-sight, and some anxiety when placed in new situations. Despite this, he lives life to the full and can get quite excited over the simplest things. He doesn’t know he is brave. He is just being himself. He has no immune system and is protected by regular infusions of immunoglobulins. When he developed meningitis, he was unconscious for three days but survived this ordeal with a loss to his hearing but with the same resilience and humour he has shown all his life. Although the doctors said it would be six months before he would once again attend the boy scouts, he was back in a month. For this, he was awarded the Cornwall Badge, the highest award for bravery given by the scouts. This was a recognition, of what his family and friends already knew, that he was strong and brave and worthy of everyone’s respect.

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