MIRACLE BROTHERS
A GO FUND ME PAGE HAS BEEN SET UP TO RAISE MONEY FOR A WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE VEHICLE FOR THE CAMPILE BROTHERS HARVEY AND ARCHIE SMITH. DAVID LOOBY REPORTS
CAMPILE brothers Harvey and Archie Smith suffer from severe forms of cerebral palsy and need the public’s help to fund a wheelchair accessible vehicle to bring them to hospital appointments.
Harvey (8) and his brother Archie (7) were born weighing 1lb 6 ounces and 2lbs 3 ounces respectively. Despite Harvey’s weight and fears that he wouldn’t survive due to a multiplicity of health problems, he has confounded doctors by making amazing strides forward in life. The same can be said of his little brother. Their parents Paul and Michelle have set up a Go Fund Me page to help them purchase a reliable vehicle that can get their sons to their hospital appointments.
AFUNDRAISING campaign has been launched to provide a wheelchair accessible vehicle for Campile brothers Harvey and Archie Smith who suffer from severe forms of cerebral palsy.
Harvey (8) and his brother Archie (7) were born nine months apart to the day, weighing 1lb 6 ounces and 2lbs 3 ounces respectively. Despite Harvey’s weight and fears that he wouldn’t survive due to a multiplicity of health problems, he has made amazing strides forward in life. The same can be said of his little brother.
Both brothers suffer from severe cerebral palsy and require round the clock care. Their parents Paul Smith and Michelle O’Connor, have set up a Go Fund Me page to help them purchase a reliable vehicle that can get their sons to their hospital appointments.
Their current vehicle is 15 years old and has broken down on numerous occasions. Harvey has to be lifted into the back of the vehicle, which was bought three years ago with money raised from a fundraising campaign for the family.
Michelle says: ‘ The window can’t shut, the suspension is gone, there’s a noise in the engine and the boot doesn’t open.’
Over the past four years both Paul and Michelle have spent more time in and out of hospitals across the east coast with their children than most.
Michelle said: ‘Doctors didn’t think Harvey would survive the pregnancy. He was born at 27 weeks, weighing only 1lb 6 ounces. I lost my waters at 19 weeks so he had eight weeks with very little water which meant Harvey’s lungs didn’t develop.’
Harvey spent 15 months in neo natal care once he was born, before returning home. Exactly nine months after she gave birth to Harvey, his little brother Archie was born, on December 9, 2009.
Michelle said she stayed positive throughout everything and believed that her son would survive, while also caring for Archie.
‘I had faith in him as he had come this far. He was a fighter to survive the pregnancy. At the end of the day he was the one doing all the fighting.’
Harvey was diagnosed with quadriplegic spastic cerebral palsy (one of the most severe types).
‘All four limbs are affected,’ his doting father Paul says.
‘He has no support in his neck, but can move all his limbs but just can’t use them.’
Paul says the early medical intervention Harvey got has given him the best chance of making great strides forward in life. Paul and Michelle are hopeful that Archie will be able to walk independently one day.
Paul had to give up his job at Hart’s in Campile to help care for Harvey and Archie, who suffer from seizures. The Smiths were unable to get a credit union loan to buy a wheelchair accessible vehicle.
‘Harvey’s condition is so complex he could have to go at any minute to hospital. Last year the school (St Patrick’s school in Enniscorthy) rang us one day and asked us to pick him up, but we couldn’t because the car was broken down. They had to bring him back on the bus.’
Both Harvey and Archie have seizures. ‘Harvey goes blue and he can’t breathe and Archie is on seizure drugs.’
Speaking at their Corderraun, Campile home, which has been adapted for the children with a hoist and a wet room, Paul and Michelle said Archie has had a lot of medical difficulties in recent years meaning numerous trips to Dublin hospitals and paying for hotel rooms.
‘With the suspension gone in the car the trips were very bumpy. It got so bad we’d borrow a car for a day and return it that night. In the last couple of years we’ve had more appointments than usual now that Harvey is under a respiration doctor and Archie is under two doctors.’
Paul and Michelle had to cancel two appointments in recent weeks because they couldn’t risk the journey in their vehicle. When this newspaper called to the house, Archie was busy playing and is able to move around with ease, sometimes with the aid of a walker. ‘He can’t walk yet, but we are hopeful he will one day.’
Michelle said Harvey is on numerous different medications. ‘He gets a build up of muccus in his throat and his oxygen levels go way down to the 20s when they should be in the 90s.’
Paul and Michelle have 40 hours a week on average of nurse care. ‘During the week nurses help get the boys ready for school and they help bathe them and play with them. We are here all of the time. We are not allowed to leave the house. We get better sleep when there is a nurse in the room with the boys, but you still have to watch Archie with all of the seizures.’
On one occasion during a seizure Michelle had to give him some of Harvey’s medication as it took over an hour for an ambulance to arrive from Gorey. ‘I gave Archie half the dose I’d normally give Harvey. The consultant said we handled it professionally. He said who knows what would have happened it I didn’t.’
Archie loves his tablet computer where he watches educational apps and books. ‘He knows his alphabet. He can’t dress himself but he can put his shoes on himself. He loves his food and will ask for a second portion. Harvey is a happy little
YOU NEED TO ACCEPT WHO YOUR CHILD IS. WE LIKE TO THINK WE ARE GIVING 100%. OUR LIVES COULD NEVER BE NORMAL