In 2015 when Declan was 6 years old, he was diagnosed with a condition called Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS) after wrongly being diagnosed with Chicken Pox.  The condition very quickly turned into the more severe version; Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TENS). 

SJS / TENS is an autoimmune disease triggered by medication or infection.  In Declan's case, it was triggered by Amoxicillin which he had taken 3 weeks prior for tonsillitis. It attacks the mucus membranes (eyes, mouth and genitals) and basically burns the victim from the inside and out.  Declan lost 96% of his skin, all his hair and nails and suffered multiple organ failure leaving him with just a 20% chance of survival.  He spent many grueling weeks in Intensive Care in a coma on life support.  

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After spending 3 and a half weeks at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children (he was airlifted here as it was the only hospital that had all the specialist equipment he required and who had an available bed), he was transferred to Chelsea and Westminster's Burns Ward, closer to home where Declan underwent a couple of operations on his eyes and continued his recovery.  He stayed here for a further 3 and a half weeks before being discharged.

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3 weeks after being discharged Declan had issues with emptying his bladder and we took him to hospital one day where he was admitted for emergency surgery which he was due to have the next morning, however through the night Declan became very unwell and developed Sepsis.  We were lucky that he was in the hospital on monitors as they were able to pick up the issue right away and get him the correct treatment.  He fought the sepsis for 2 weeks before they performed his emergency surgery and he was again discharged.

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Life as we knew it had changed as Declan was now on many eye drops and medication including immunosuppression which he is still on more than 2 years later and steroids which he is also still on more than 2 years later.  Declan has eye drops every day on the hour and quarter past the hour from 6am until 10pm.  The biggest problem Declan faced was severe eye damage and last year he was registered as legally blind. 

Over the past two years Declan has had multiple operations, mostly to his eyes and lengthy hospital admissions.  He is very much a ‘glass half full’ kind of boy and always sees the silver lining despite any bad news that comes his way.

His absolute passion before he became ill was (and still is) football, however since being registered blind, he hasn’t been able to play for a team any more.  (Not for lack of trying on his part!) 

With Declan being so passionate about football, we felt it fitting to hold a charity football match next year to raise money for all the charities who helped save his life and who help keep his spirits high when times are hard. 

The game will be held at Sutton United (Greater London) and will be held on Sunday 27th May (the Monday is a bank holiday) with a 4pm kick off.  We will have stalls, a bouncy castle and plenty of entertainment for kids and adults alike!  We have been given access to The Boom Boom Club in the grounds of the club in the evening where separate tickets will be sold and we will have live entertainment where we will be holding an auction (we already have some incredible prizes including a football signed by Chelsea Football Club's 1st team, a brand new Man U shirt signed by Alex Ferguson and 2 plane tickets to Dubai!)

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