Dre was born on 1^st August 2012, although a difficult birth Dre eventually arrived fit and healthy. He had a difficult start in life with his challenging behaviour e.g. head banging, speech development and outbursts. From birth, his mum Angela had concerns for the shape of his head as it was unusual. I myself did not want to admit to these concerns and fought back against Angela’s concerns due to fear. After coming round to these concerns we fought with multiple medical services in Sunderland, Hereford and Catterick to get someone to consider our fears for the shape of Dre’s head. Each time we got ignored and told to stop being so erratic and continuously came up against questions such as “do you know what shape your head was when born?” or “everyone has different head shapes, Dre’s is normal for Dre”. We struggled as a family watching our son battle through his early years without anyone actually taking us seriously e.g. they would constantly label Angela as being a neurotic mother. 

It was a chance meeting with a Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist (HSSLT) at Catterick that noticed the shape of Dre’s head and mentioned it as she had seen it in another child previously. It was the moment we had been fighting with the medical services for more than 3 years, to say we were relieved would be an understatement but we had eventually found someone within the medical services notice what we had been fighting years for. We then went back to the medical services with the referral from the HSSLT and were passed to the magnificent services of Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. 

Alder Hey Hospital gave Dre the diagnosis of Sagittal Craniosynostosis Scaphocephaly with raised intracranial pressure. This is when the plates in the skull form either too early or too late, Dre’s formed too early which created a ridge like line in the head. This diagnosis is normally picked up from birth and operated on soon as possible. Knowing this was a major concern to us as parents that after more than 3 years of battling; Dre was just being diagnosed. However, we were relieved as we knew we were in the best possible hands with the Cranio Team at Alder Hey. We were informed that due to the pressure within Dre’s head it was highly advised that he had the operation to correct the shape of his skull and relieve the pressure within his head. This pressure if left untreated could and probably would result in major factors which had already hampered Dre’s early progression including significant bleeding, infection, neurological injury and potential loss of life. As parents this was our worst fears so it was vitally important that we as parents gave permission for this operation to be carried out. A few months later after more visits to Alder Hey we were taking Dre to Alder Hey to receive the corrective skull surgery. With all major operations come risks, the main risk what shocked and brought us as parents to tears was the very real risk of death. However, the surgeon Ben Robertson basically put it plain and simple by stating “we perform these operations daily a maximum of one a day, and we haven’t had a death yet, you can be safe knowing we are the best in the business” it was as if he was doing a normal everyday job. This literally put us as petrified parents in a state of awe and amazement and they had the full trust of us that Dre’s life would be in the best hands possible when performing this life saving operation. 

On the 12^th August 2016 it was the worst day of our lives with Dre having his skull corrective operation. This operation consisted of Dre being put under general anaesthetic in order for the cranio surgeon Ben Robertson to perform a total vault remodelling of Dre’s skull. This is basically them cutting his head open from ear to ear then removing the skull remodelling it to alleviate all the pressure and allow Dre’s skull and brain to develop naturally. A funny note but shows you the professionalism they went through is that Dre had long curly hair at the time of his operation and normally for ease of operation they would shave a boy’s hair all off but they made allowances and just shaved a small strip of hair off to allow them to operate. This in itself shows you how much they go above and beyond their professional duties. Dre was in theatre for 8 hours whilst the operation was performed, as parents waiting for the news to say everything had gone well or possibly there had been complications and we had lost our precious son was heart rendering to say the least. Once we had received the call to say the operation had been a success it felt like the whole world had been lifted from our shoulders. Upon seeing Dre after the operation he understandably had bruises and swelling to his head. Initially we had to wait for a week in order for them to continue to assess him. However, due to Dre’s warrior spirit we were successfully discharged from the hospital after 4 days. 

Since the operation Dre has had numerous check-ups and will continue to do so. Dre has gone onto lead a positive life so far and without the professional and personal help of the remarkable team and hospital at Alder Hey this would not have been possible. My family along with many others will be forever indebted to the amazing Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and the second to non staff.