The truth
Jade Mason, 32, of Leicester, was accused of hurting her child after he started coming out in bruises…
As my little boy crawled his way across the carpet, I couldn’t help but smile. ‘Well done,’ I cooed, scooping him into my arms. Macauley was six-months-old and had just started crawling.
But as he started to be on the move, I noticed something strange - his skin was covered in bruises.
‘Where have these come from?’ I wondered, examining the purple and blue marks that were on his arms and tummy.
Deciding it was best I got him checked out, I took him to see the GP.
‘It’s nothing to worry about,’ the doctor reassured me.
We thought he must just bruise easily, but they kept on popping up.
Macauley’s dad was also starting to get concerned.
‘Are you hurting him?’ he asked me one day.
‘How could you say that?’ I replied, in complete shock. He immediately took back what he’d said, but we knew there was something serious going on.
After seven trips back and forth to the doctors, Macauley was booked in for some blood tests.
But before he had them, he fell over and smacked his lip.
It was a tiny little graze, but it wouldn’t stop bleeding.
With it still going a few hours later, I rushed him down to A&E.
By this point, Macauley had been sick, too.
Doctors tried to stop the bleeding and finally had some answers.
‘We think your son has haemophilia,’ one of the doctors told us.
It was a genetic disease which affects the blood’s ability to clot.
I’d never heard of the condition before, but it explained the excessive bruising and bleeding.
We were then told that once Macauley was 18 months old, he’d begin treatment that he’d be on for the rest of his life.
But, before then, Macauley fell off his bed.
Apart from a few tears, I thought he seemed just fine.
Only, over the next two weeks he wouldn’t crawl and was laughing and crying at the same time.
Realising something wasn’t right, I took him to hospital and doctors rushed him away.
‘He’s got a bleed on the brain,’ the doctor explained.
Luckily, it was caught in time and he started treatment right away. He had a line fitted in his chest to administer drugs that would help clot his blood.
Eventually, I was trained to do it, so I could treat him myself.
I then went on to have my little girl Willow, who wasn’t affected by the condition.
Three years on, I found out I was pregnant with another boy.
I knew there was a 50/50 chance that this baby would develop the condition too.
We just had to wait and see. Once I gave birth to Reign , doctors ran tests and discovered that he too had haemophilia.
It was heartbreaking, but in some ways I felt more prepared the second time around.
Every other day, I gave the boys their injections.
Then one day, we got some incredible news.
A new drug had become available that would help avoid uncontrolled bleeding and would only need to be given once every two weeks.
My boys were the first in the UK to be offered the drug and it’s been amazing.
I’m so thankful that they can now lead a normal life with the help of this new drug.
It really has worked miracles.
‘How could you say that?!’
Tiny twosome