Harvey fights rare virus
UNTIL he was seven years old, Harvey Sumner was a healthy, active little boy who loved playing with his friends and going to school.
But in October 2018, his life changed forever in a matter of days, after he fell ill with a virus that left him paralysed from the neck down. When he first became poorly, it seemed like any other childhood illness. Mum Michelle, 45, from Rochdale, took him to the GP with a headache and flu-like symptoms.
“I took him to the doctor and they said to go to hospital, so we went to Royal Oldham and they thought he had tonsillitis,” said Michelle.
“But we took him home and he got gradually weaker. I was having to carry him. He just fell on the floor”.
Harvey’s family called an ambulance and he was taken back to the Royal Oldham Hospital, where it soon became clear that he couldn’t move, and was seriously unwell.
He was transferred the next day to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital where he was heavily sedated and treated for pneumonia.
Unable to breathe on his own, Harvey, now aged eight, had to be fitted with a tracheotomy and put on a ventilator.
After a month, medics discovered Harvey’s illness had been caused by a virus called Enterovirus D68.
It typically causes respiratory illness, and symptoms can range from mild to very severe.
But in Harvey’s case, the virus attacked his spine.
It meant that to begin with, Harvey couldn’t move any part of his body. He couldn’t speak, and all he could do was blink.
His terrified parents also discovered that little was known about the virus.
“Because no one knew anything about it, you don’t know how to deal with it, you just go with what you have been told,” says Michelle’s partner John McCabe, 50, who has been dad to Harvey since he was just four months old.
“There were a couple of cases in England when Harvey got it, there are a few more cases of it now but not as severe as Harvey had it. There are a few in America and a few in Asia.
“Alder Hey were trying to liaise with Asia to try to find out what they knew about it, but they still know very little about it, but most people would just get flu symptoms.”
Harvey, who is the youngest of three boys, was eventually transferred to Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.
Since then, the former Caldershaw Primary School pupil has made incredible progress.
He has been able to start eating again and after months of physiotherapy, he can now move his toes.
Much to Harvey’s delight, he has also regained the use of his fingers, and is thrilled that he is now able to use his laptop again.
Although Michelle has been told that Harvey will need help to breathe for the rest of his life, they don’t yet know if he will regain any more mobility.
“The bits that are permanently damaged will never come back. We absolutely don’t know what will come back and what won’t,” added Michelle.
Despite being robbed of his mobility and often being in pain, Michelle says her incredible little boy never complains that he can’t run around anymore.
She said: “I think children cope better than people think they do. I wouldn’t have coped if it happened to me.
“He’s coping amazingly. Everyone thinks he was born like that because he’s coping so well.
“He’s brilliant, that’s what’s keeping me going.
“You just have to cope. You have no choice.”
Harvey is now well enough to be discharged from hospital, but the family is facing another battle finding somewhere to live.
Michelle and John have been staying at Ronald McDonald House to be near him.
But they can’t return to their privately rented Rochdale home, because it is too small and unsuitable to be adapted for Harvey’s needs.
Instead, they have just applied though Manchester Move to be housed in Manchester.
Because they have no prior connections with Manchester however, Michelle understands they have been placed in the council’s least urgent band in terms of priority for rehousing.
Until they have a new home, Michelle can’t apply for the round-the-clock care package Harvey will need, leaving them in limbo.
In the meantime, the family is fundraising to buy equipment that will help Harvey be more mobile when he does return home.
Family and friends have already donated thousands of pounds to help buy him a robotic feeding arm.
A Manchester City Council spokesperson said: “We have enormous sympathy for the family. Having a loved one in hospital, particularly a child, is never easy and this will undoubtedly be a very tough time for them. We are aware of the family’s application to Manchester’s housing register.
“A local connection to the city is a key test for new applicants to Manchester’s social housing register and those without would usually be placed in a lower band.
“However, there are sometimes exceptional circumstances, and the family’s priority will need to be assessed when their application is complete.”