Tragic mum discovers why son died after 8-month wait

THE mother of a little boy who died more than eight months ago has finally found out what condition took his life.

Four-year-old Oakley Gledhill, known as Bear, suffered from severe epilepsy and was found unresponsive in February.

Now his mum Lorraine Brocklehurst, 41, of Sheepridge, who has three other children, says coroner’s officials at Bradford have told her the post-mortem revealed her son died from rhabdomyoma – a primary tumour of the heart in infants and children.

Lorraine said it was a relief to have discovered what happened to Bear after all this time.

She said: “In layman’s terms the wiring from his brain to his heart went awry for only a couple of seconds but in that couple of seconds it prevented him from being able to breathe.

“The best thing is that myself and his father Barrie know he didn’t suffer in any way, shape or form. Unfortunately I was in hospital at the time with pneumonia so he had to deal with it all on his own.”

Lorraine, who is in a wheelchair, said she now has fresh trauma to deal with as medics have told her that Bear also had tuberous sclerosis, a rare genetic condition that causes mainly noncancerous (benign) tumours to develop in different parts of the body.

The condition is related to rhabdomyoma and is present from birth, although Lorraine says she has only discovered Bear had it now.

She faces an anxious wait until just before Christmas when she hopes to be told by a Leeds-based genetic clinic whether she is a carrier of the defective gene or not.

She said: “It happens in the womb and unfortunately I have had to have blood taken to discover whether I have this horrendous condition or not. “If it turns out that I am a carrier then our three children, 19-year-old Ami, 14-year-old Zeyn – who suffers from severe Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder – and sevenyear-old Rohan, will all need to be tested. “It helps that we have the faith that we have – spiritualism. So, as far as we are concerned, Bear is still with us. “Bear didn’t show any signs of tuberous sclerosis, so it was a shock to find out that he had that. He was one-in-a-million and that’s not just his mum being big-headed. “He was an old man in a little

The best thing is that myself and his father know he didn’t suffer in any way

body. “It is a lot to deal with but you just have to try to take it in your stride and keep a smile plastered over your face.”