Family raise funds to bring George home
11-YEAR-OLD WAS LEFT BRAIN-DAMAGED AFTER AN ACCIDENT
SURREY father Alex Bailey describes the past eight months as a “living hell” following an accident which left his eldest son with severe brain damage.
Family and friends have been fundraising for 11-year-old George Bailey, the “kindest and happiest boy you could ever wish to meet, a great big brother and a wonderful friend to many”.
The young boy from Camberley had an accident at home on February 28 and suffered a severe injury to his brain.
He was airlifted to St George’s Hospital in London, where he stayed for 14 weeks – three of them in intensive care – and it took two weeks for George to open his eyes.
His accident has left him fully dependent on others for all aspects of his care, including hydration, nutrition and mobility. He suffers from severe dystonia – a movement disorder – which causes his muscles to painfully contract and spasm.
Since leaving hospital, George, who was due to begin secondary school in September, has been living at The Children’s Trust specialist rehabilitation centre in Tadworth, for children with brain injuries.
“George was always outdoors and having adventures in the woods,” Alex told the Aldershot News. “He loved helping out on the farm where his cousins live and helping with the lambing season. He enjoyed being outside on his bike, too.”
The fundraising efforts are vital to allow George to continue his rehab back at home with his family. More than £52,000 has already been raised towards the current target of £85,000.
At the moment, Alex and his wife, Elizabeth, split the days tending to George’s needs at the rehab centre, with Alex visiting during the weekends and Elizabeth helping her son on weekdays.
Having an adapted home that meets George’s requirements would bring the family back together once again.
“It’s been terrible,” said Alex. “George can’t speak or move, he has a tube going into his stomach and is doubly incontinent. We think he can hear and we have seen the faintest of smiles, but that is all. His future’s very bleak, but we just hope that one day he can regain some kind of quality of life.
“It was my best friend’s idea to set up the fundraising page, because of the huge cost involved in George’s needs going forward. The building work to adapt our home alone is estimated at £200,000, and then there is the specialist equipment required to support his needs at home,” added Alex, highlighting that without this funding it would simply be impossible.
“I run my own logistics company so I can be flexible with looking after George, and Elizabeth’s work has been very understanding,” he said. “We don’t get much of a chance to spend time all together as a family, so having him back home with us would give us more family time. It would also help George being surrounded by voices of friends and family that he can recognise.”
It has also been particularly tough for George’s two younger siblings, Henry and Hugo, who have had to adapt to the sudden change in their big brother.
The family would love to buy an offroad wheelchair for George, so that he can get “back out into the countryside that he loves so much”, but this will also come at a high cost.
Before his accident, George was “very proud” of raising over £100 by selling homemade poppies for the Poppy Appeal and he also hiked to the top of Mount Snowdon and Pen y Fan in Wales. He loved doing karate and was an “enthusiastic” cadet at the Frimley and Camberley Cadet Corps.
It has been a truly “devastating” time for George’s friends and family, and they are doing “everything possible to aid his recovery and give him the best possible future”.
His loved ones are hoping he can return home in the new year, and all donations will make a huge difference to George’s life going forward.
As his JustGiving page says: “George has a long and difficult road ahead of him but he is a strong and very determined boy, who will keep fighting.”