11-year-old Billy is from Co Tyrone suffers from an illness called intractable epilepsy. It which means he suffers serious seizures every day. His mum, Charlotte, believes they will kill him unless they take drastic action. She has now made the agonising decision to push ahead with brain surgery for her gravely ill son – despite the fact it means he will lose his memory and speech.
At eight-months-old Billy was given six months to live due to his condition. His mum raised the 250 thousand pounds needed to send her son to America for treatment. Now more than a decade later, his condition has again deteriorated, and Charlotte is trying to raise money to get him a vital brain operation which could save his life by leaving him seizure free, but it comes with this heartbreaking choice.
The treatment will cost over 300 thousand pounds which Charlotte is desperately trying to raise through the ‘Keep Billy Alive 2’ campaign.
Billy can now suffer up to 100 seizures in a day which is why his mum says she
has to move forward with the treatment despite the life-changing side effects.
"They felt that laser surgery would actually be an option for Billy, which would be a less invasive type of surgery. But they discovered the lesion is deeper in his brain, its actually on the left temporal lobe, which means it’s a more complex form of surgery and will be more invasive. The temporal lobe actually controls your memory and your speech, and that’s what Billy would have to forfeit because they would have to take out all of the temporal lobe.”
More tests will be carried out in the coming days. In the meantime, Billy is being treated with cannabis oil in a hospital in LA to help lessen the severity of the seizures.
You can donate here to help Billy towards the cost of his operation
(Feature image via Just4Children)
