A schoolboy was left paralysed from the neck down and hooked up to a ventilator in hospital just 24 hours after experiencing sharp stomach pains. Ayuub Al-Asad, from Rochdale, first felt the pains on March 19 this year and as his symptoms worsened, he began to feel pins and needles in his legs which soon became heavy and numb. Eventually, he couldn't move his legs at all and collapsed on the living room floor.
His mum, Hena, rushed him to A&E immediately and by 8am the next day Ayuub was on oxygen and transferred to Royal Manchester Children's Hospital where he was sedated and ventilated in the Intensive Care Unit for three months. He was diagnosed with acute flaccid myelitis, a condition affecting the spinal cord.
The illness left him paralysed from the neck down, his bladder and bowel stopped working and his diaphragm was paralysed on the left side, causing his left lung to collapse, reports the Manchester Evening News. Mum Hena said: "He's crying out in pain and he's like, 'My arms are burning. My arms feel like they're on fire. They're burning. It's burning'.
Everything has changed for him, still to this point. He'll say to me, 'mum, all I want to do is walk. I just want my legs to move and I want to walk'. "It was just the worst time possible, just to see him go through that. "The things we've gone through, it's been traumatic. It's been devastating because his world has changed.".
"As a family we hope to get back home and start life again as a family together. We have missed being together since it all happened. We also hope to raise awareness about this devastating condition for other families to be aware of the signs and symptoms and how to get the support and help needed from Spinal Injuries Association and other charities.".
