Ryan Farmer

The reason I'm doing this

As some of you may already know, on April 10th 2015 me and Beckii received the best gift we could ever imagine...our handsome little man Zak Paul Farmer.

Unfortunately Zak was referred to Sheffield children's hospital the very same day as he had air in his chest cavity and bowel malrotation & volvulus. In the early hours of the next morning Zak went to theatre for an operation to correct his bowel malrotation and have a chest drain put in place. He went to theatre a week or so later for a feeding line to be put in as he couldn't take full feeds at the time.

We spent 4 and a bit weeks at the hospital. It was horrible to deal with and at times I really don't know how we coped. When your baby is born you just want to take them home and show them too the world, not have them in hospital fearing for what could happen. After we got him home, things seemed fine until 21st October 2015. Zak took a turn for the worst, vomiting and in discomfort.

We took Zak to the doctors, who got an ambulance to take him to Doncaster hospital, where after 5 hours was transferred to Sheffield children's hospital once again where he would spend the next 9 weeks. We were unsure what was going off, nurses all around Zak trying to stabilise him. We were then told he needed to go down to theatre to have a look what the issue was. Our hearts sank once again, wondering what was going to happen. After 4-5 hours in theatre one of the surgeons came back to the ward. It wasn't good news, she informed us Zak's bowel had twisted once again, but only this time it had cut the blood supply off which caused the bowel to start to die. The surgeons had untwisted it in the hope that within 24-48 hours the blood supply would start working and maybe bring some life back to the bowel. We were told that he may not make it, his body was in a bad way, being poisoned from the inside from the dead bowel. Just over 24 hours later we were told Zak needed to go back to theatre, his body was not doing well and it seemed the bowel was not recovering. We were told that he may not make it. The surgeon needed to see what the situation was before we could get any answers. The surgeon then came to see us once he had taken a look. He told us 95% off his small intestine was dead. He could remove it but still Zak may not pull through. We were given the option to give him a chance or let it take him.

Obviously, we gave him a chance. And a chance he has took. Life is not completely normal for Zak he now has what is called short bowel syndrome, due to the amount of small intestine he lost. He now requires TPN (Total Parenternal Nutrition) which is given through his central line (long term IV access), we run this overnight from 7pm to 7am in the morning. So for 12 hours he is attached to a wire, which means no running around like a nutter. This is Iv nutrition as he cannot absorb nutrients through his small intestine as it is so small. TPN comes with its dangers, it can cause liver damage, also due to the line that is into one of his main arteries, it can cause nasty infections, which can potentially lead to death. Sepsis is a huge scare for us, so we have to be extra careful when touching his line and setting up his TPN etc. Zak currently has 5 nights on TPN, 2 nights on fluids and if he copes well he can manage 1 night all machine and wire free.

Zak has been through so much, but he is such a happy boy, always playing and smiling away like nothing ever happened. We don't know what the future holds for Zak but we certainly hope it is good things. He deserves all the luck in the world. There's been issues along the way, and i'd be silly to think there won't be more (can always hope) but this boy is the strongest person I know

I want to raise money for this hospital as we cannot thank them enough for everything they have done. we have met so many surgeons, doctors, nurses and so on and we cannot thank them enough. They have done so much for Zak and taken great care of us along the way, keeping us sane at some of our darkest times. This hospital is a truly amazing place, as are the staff members that work there.

Please don't take things for granted. Nobody expects these sort of things to happen to them, I can tell you we didn't and it is the worst feeling in the world, it still rips us apart inside now just thinking about what he has been through.

For more information/updates on Zaks story please check https://www.facebook.com/zaksstory