“In October 2017, Finley and Huey were playing in the garden. I went to put tools back in the shed I heard Huey shout daddy! When I turned around Finley was lying on the floor, as I ran over to him he was grey, foaming at the mouth and was having what looked like a seizure. I shouted to his mum, and, fearing the worst we called an ambulance. When we got to hospital they gave Finley several anti-seizure drugs, none of which worked, and finally they had to sedate and ventilate him to try and break the cycle. Several hours later they woke him up. He was very agitated, confused and kept dropping in and out of consciousness all night until finally he woke up at 5.30am and spoke. We were so grateful that he came back to us, however, he couldn’t walk properly and his coordination was completely gone. After a couple of days everything started to come back little by little, every morning he woke up and after six days he was 90% back to full health.”

“Thankfully over the next month Finley was completely back to normal. A couple of more months passed and in February we had an appointment at hospital to review how Finley was getting on, and in the hopes of receiving some answers. We were told that all his scans, blood tests, lumber picture etc were all normal and there were no definite answers to what had happened. He could have had a seizure or he could have fallen and banged his head. Not knowing what was going to happen next, we carried on and Finley was great, until the beginning of April when, while in the garden with his Nan, the exact same happened. We called the ambulance and off we went to hospital again. It was like déjà vu in every way possible. They gave him the same drugs and after no response they put him to sleep again, but this time when they woke him several hours later he came around and was talking straight away, but his coordination and walking was still like the previous time. Again, it took him a few days to start coming around but on Saturday night, when we thought he was well enough to come home, and even though he was still a bit wobbly, the doctors agreed as all test results were clear again so they allowed us to go home with rescue medicine in case he had another episode.”

“Finley went straight to bed as he was exhausted. The following morning, half way to the bathroom, he collapsed and had another seizure. We couldn’t believe this was happening again we called the ambulance, used the rescue medication but with no affect and he was taken to hospital once again. The same drugs and tests were done, and then Finley had to be put to sleep again. However, when they woke him this time, several hours later, he was still fitting so had to be transferred to Sheffield intensive care unit.  

“They kept Finley sedated and ventilated for nearly 24 hours and following an MRI scan, they woke him. Like before, he was very confused and agitated. He got better with each day and before they discharged us they diagnosed Finley with epilepsy. Finley now takes twice daily medication and 2 weeks on he is almost back to normal but gets tired very easily, we are just entering the unknown like anyone dealing with epilepsy. There are no definite answers and you are never sure what will happen next.”

“So, this is Finley’s story, and this is why we have decided to do a sponsored parachute jump to raise awareness and raise money for epilepsy research. As like myself, until something like this happens to you, you never really know how much it affects your life.”

Wayne Pettinger