Brave Nathan is set to take on a charity challenge
ABRAVE boy is taking on a big challenge to raise awareness of his condition.
Nathan Wood, 10, from Macclesfield, was diagnosed with epilepsy in September last year.
The Whirley Primary School pupil subsequently suffered a seizure and injured himself. But instead of letting it get him down he signed up for the Great Manchester Run.
Nathan, who now has around eight seizures a day, is raising money for Epilepsy Action, to raise awareness of the impact the condition has on children and their families.
His parents, Matt and Nicky, say Nathan’s life has changed and he tries to minimise risk of injury when out of the house.
Matt, 43, said: “Nathan was diagnosed in September 2017.
“He was due to see a consultant as we sus- pected he had epilepsy but unfortunately he had a seizure, fell over and banged his head badly.
“He ended up in hospital for several days and missed the first week back to school. The positive side was that he was diagnosed whilst in hospital and was able to start his medication early.”
“Nathan always tries to maintain as normal life as possible but it can be difficult as he still has around eight seizures every day, mostly at night, which makes him tired. Outside of school he is an active person, he makes sure that whatever he does he minimises the risk of hurting himself if he has a seizure.”
The money they raise from the run will go towards research into Nathan’s condition.
The Woods say they hope it will not just help their own son but will improve the quality of care for other with the same diagnosis.
Matt said: “We’re told that 75 per cent of people with Epilepsy like Nathan’s (partial complex seizures) can find a drug or combination of drugs that stop the seizures completely.
“Fundraising is important because we’d like to be able to improve the treatment for others by using tools like mobile apps to log seizures and correlate that with the medication, and that is only possible through donations to charity.”
Matt and Nicky are also taking part in the event, raising money for The Christie Hospital, in Manchester.
Matt added: “We had a tough year in 2017 because Nicky was diagnosed with breast cancer and so she’s spent the year going through chemotherapy and other cancer treatment at the Christie but we wanted to do something to show our support.”