The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Family raising cash for son’ s specialist help
AFife mum has raised more than £3,500 in three weeks to help her son access specialist help for his extremely rare medical condition.
Connor Paterson, from Gauldry, has lived with difficult and unexplained symptoms triggered randomly since he was born.
The 13-year-old has endured countless operations and procedures to treat the symptoms.
Now his family are keen to access specialist help to better understand Connor’s condition.
The family are taking part in a variety of activities, including fancy dress walks and auctions, to raise money towards the specialist care costing upwards of £20,000.
Katrina Paterson and her partner Derek Kinloch, 31, dressed up in wild fancy dress costumes on a sponsored winter walk on Saturday.
The pair walked from Gauldry to Dundee to raise money for Connor’s fund.
Connor often experiences bouts of extreme, recurring sickness which doctors cannot explain.
“They don’t actually have a name for what he has,” said mum Katrina, 43.
“But it creates symptoms and they name the symptoms it creates.
“Essentially, his stomach to bowel paralyses and goes to sleep, and they can’t wake it back up again.
“He’ll be fine one minute, then sick every half hour for weeks.
“They can’t do anything to wake up his stomach, it’s just when his body decides.”
Connor was admitted to hospital indefinitely, where doctors attempted to treat his symptoms.
The uncertainty around a diagnosis and treatment has led to some extreme lows in his life.
Katrina said: “He’s gone through some really low points and sometimes he couldn’t bare to continue with the treatment.
“I’ve lost count of how many attempts there have been to figure out what’s going on.”
However, the new fundraiser and the possibility of specialist insight into his rare condition has given Connor hope.
“We’ve found a doctor in London, Professor Aziz, who specialises in Connor’s issues and we want to see what can be done to help him,” said Katrina.
“He’s helped others with the same issue before.
“They think there’s only two kids in the UK with his problem.
“And not many more across the world, but Professor Aziz helped one girl we spoke to.
“So we decided to start the fundraiser three weeks ago and we’ve already managed to raise more than £3,500.
“We’ve got a few more things planned, like Connor will be switching on the Gauldry Christmas lights on December 4 and we’ll be making and selling Christmas cards.
“Connor’s had such a hard life and if I can make it any better, I want to do that.”