Sam's Wish

Meet Sam, a wonderful, happy, and incredibly brave little boy who has been through more in his young life than most will ever have to face. He is my son and my hero.

Sam's brain didn't form correctly during pregnancy. We had no idea anything was wrong until our tiny baby suffered a massive seizure at 14 weeks of age. The seizures kept on coming, each one more aggressive than the last, and when tests showed our boy had a catastrophic seizure disorder of infancy called Infantile Spasms, our world fell apart. Since then, Sam has never had a day when he hasn't suffered seizures. At his worst, he suffered hundreds of seizures daily. The seizures devastated his development and left him unable to sit unaided, walk, or talk. Sam uses a wheelchair full-time with an oxygen cylinder and suction machine, and is 100% dependent on us for all his needs, be it personal care or playing with his favorite toys. Sam's seizures are drug-resistant. Despite three anti-seizure medications and a vagus nerve stimulator (VNS), which has significantly helped reduce his seizures, he still experiences around 6-20 seizures every day of his life.

Sam's list of medical issues is enormous. In addition to the life-threatening seizures, he has very low muscle tone, visual impairment thanks to the severity of his seizures, and is no longer able to eat orally, so he is fed through a PEG tube directly into his tummy. Sam's low tone has also resulted in scoliosis (curvature of the spine), and in October 2023, he underwent spinal fusion surgery to insert two metal rods and a whole lot of screws into his spine to hold it straight.

Despite everything he faces daily, Sam is one of the most gentle, loving people you could ever wish to meet. He is a gentle soul, loves animals and nature, and enjoys nothing more than being able to spend time with his friends and family. He's really a very ordinary teenager.

The therapy, adaptations, and equipment Sam needs are all expensive, but they open his world up exponentially. Please help us raise the money our boy needs; it won't change the world, but for one very brave young man, it'll mean everything.

7.5% of all donations to Tree of Hope in relation to this appeal will be allocated to the general charitable purposes of Tree of Hope to cover our core operating costs.

If we raise insufficient funds, or surplus funds, then the funds will be used, if appropriate, to fund support for our child’s needs in accordance with Tree of Hope’s charitable objects. If in those circumstances we are unable to use all or part of the funds for the benefit of our child in accordance with Tree of Hope’s charitable objectives, then any funds that cannot be used will be transferred to be used for the general charitable purposes of Tree of Hope.