Positivity: Miracle Boy to Join Charity Mile
From Barrow, UK:
Last updated 13:16, Saturday, 27 September 2008
A MIRACLE boy who came back from the brink is now gearing up for a one-mile charity run.
Just four months ago, Reece Finlayson’s heart stopped for seven minutes and for weeks he battled a critical illness that almost claimed his life.
But this month, Reece amazed everyone by returning to school.
And now, the six-year-old is wowing people again by preparing for the one-mile, Mini North Run on October 4.
Reece was disappointed when it looked like he would not be able to do the event in Newcastle.
But his physiotherapist has now declared he is well enough.
Reece, from Barrow, and a pupil at the town’s Holy Family Catholic Primary School, will walk and jog the course with his mum, Pamela Burton, 25.
The pair will dress as pirates.
The next day, Miss Burton will run the 13.2-mile Great North Run with her mum and auntie. Reece and his family are raising money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, a disease which he has.
Miss Burton said: “Reece was disappointed when he was not going to be doing it because he wanted to get a medal. Now he’s happy that he’s going to get his own medal.”
Reece, who took part in the event last year, fell ill with a rota virus in May.
While at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital in Pendlebury, his heart stopped beating for seven minutes.
He was revived but medics warned his family that his chances of survival were slim. Reece had encephalitis, a brain infection, multiple organ failure and his body was in septic shock.
Doctors said Reece’s only chance was to find a hospital with an ECMO machine.
He was flown to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London and started to recover.
He was transferred back to Pendlebury, then Furness General Hospital in July.
The plucky youngster was in hospital for a total of 10 weeks.
This was Reece’s second fight for life. As a baby, he had two cardiac arrests and survived five operations. …..
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