ZACH'S STORY

Imagine ALWAYS being hungry and being told to stop eating otherwise you will become obese and very ill...

Imagine being unable to exersice to stop this happening...

Imagine having to get injections everyday so that you're body will grow properly...

Well thats what it is like to have Prader-Willi Syndrome

Having a fairly straight forward pregnancy i was induced at 41 weeks, nothing was to prepare us for what was about to happen. after a very complex labour Zach was born on the 7th sept 2004 unable to breath on his own he was rushed to special care baby unity, it was around 3 hours befor i got to see him when doctors and nurses had to catch me from collapsing as i was not prepared for what i was about to see. Zach lay motionless in an incubator with all sorts of tubes and wires attached to him, then the most amazing doctor- dr Kelly started to tell me all the problems that Zach had and this was just too much to take in.

Zach spent 3 weeks in special care having numerous tests to try and establish what was causing all his problems,

Finaly after 2 1/2 weeks myself and Andrew were taken into a room and told Zach had a condition called Prader-Willi Syndrome. We were told he would be obese all his life, would have learning difficulties, probarly require a wheelchair and would not be like other children!

It broke our hearts to think he was going to have a life full of struggles but never the less we battled on, as Zach was tube fed they told us that if he was to leave hospital we would have to learn to change the tubes that fed him through his nose. This is personaly the hardest thing i have every had to do. after 21 days we were allowed to take him home which was fantastic news.

Zach spent the 1st year of his life sleeping, he never cried, was never sick and we had to wake him up to feed him.

Since then Zach has amazed everyone with what he can do, he attends a special needs school which he loves and has already been told he will be head boy!

The most common question we get is "is your son fat" the answer is No. "but how" is the next question, the answer is through alot of dedication from everyone who is around Zach, food is Everywhere! on tv, games, magazines ect imagine contantly having to look at something you realy,realy want but just cant have. Zach has a very strict diet and this is why he is not obese he will try to steal food if nobody is looking, but having 2 very caring brothers and a sister to look out for him he doesnt get away with it very often. He has to get an injection everyday as he doesnt have enough growth hormones in his body to make him grow naturarly, but Zach being Zach takes it in his stride, just like all the appointments he has to attend, like physio, speech therapy, dietician, endocrine, othoptist peadiatric along with others, he has spent so much time in hospital with 7 operations and will no doubt have more to come. he now has a curve on his spine and mild sleep apnea.

However with all that aside Zach is such a charming, funny, handsome wee boy who steals the heart or everyone he meets!

Team Zach have around 60 runners who are doing the great scottish run in glasgow to raising money for pwsa uk as they provide invaluble support for people just like Zach and their families.

Please dig deep and sponsor TEAM ZACH

Many Many Thanks

TEAM ZACH

Prader-Willi Syndrome is a very complex genetis disorder resulting from abnormality in the 15th chromosome, PWS causes low muscle tone, short stature if not treated with growth hormones, behavioural problems and a chronic feeling of hunger that coupled with a metabolism that utelizes drastically fewer calories than normal can lead to excissive eating and life threatening obesity.