The “healthy” boy suffering from fatigue and bruises has been diagnosed with a rare, life-threatening blood condition and is currently facing a bone marrow transplant and six weeks of separation.
Joey Stowell, 9, of Cornwall, is a normal “happy” boy, according to his father, Brandon Stowell, 30, who began to turn lethargic and pale in July this year, and was “covered with bruises.”
The father of three said his son had been taken by a doctor. He was worried after his first medical checkup and sent his family to a local hospital for a blood test.
After being transported to Bristol Children's Hospital, Joey was found to be a rare and serious condition known as bone marrow disorder, also known as bone marrow disorder.
Joey's two sisters, eight Florence and Ellie May, 13, were waiting for an external donor to be available after they had blood tests that revealed they were not matched with the transplant.
Brandon has since set up a GoFundMe page to help families deal with their daily expenses, relieving “the “great pressure” to worry about whether they can afford to eat or “feel” 'Joey's ability to give it to them.'
“It's going home violently and all you want to do is take it off. You just get what they have and go through it on your own,” Brandon, a self-employed hairdresser, told Pa Real Life.
“Joey's strength and tenacity, the way he handles it all, gives me the power to take over and help him.”
Brandon said Joey began to present worrying symptoms this July.
“Joey was a normal, healthy boy, but he became very lethargic and he was very pale, not himself,” he said.
“He was also covered in bruises that were approaching a random spot on his body, but we put it on him as you are jumping down the couch and things because you know what they are.
“When he woke up one day, he had completely changed and he didn't look very well.”
Brandon said he had already booked Joey's blood tests but visited the GP again to speed up the process.
He said their doctors were worried following their initial observation and sent the family to a local hospital for further testing.
“When we had a blood test, his hemoglobin count was around 15, which was very low,” Brandon said.
According to the NHS, regular children ages 6 to 12 must have a hemoglobin count of 115 to 155.
We also found that Joey's white blood cells and platelet counts were low. The latter caused a bruise in his body – and he received a blood transfusion.
“It raised the question of what was going on because he wasn't producing his own blood properly,” Brandon said.
Within the next few days, the family was sent to Bristol Children's Hospital, Brandon said. There, Joey was treated with antibiotics for the infection and undergoes further testing.
“He had very strong symptoms of leukemia, but through blood tests and bone marrow aspiration, he was pre-diagnosed with plastic anemia,” Brandon said.
According to Gosh, non-traumatic anemia, or bone marrow failure, is a rare disease, with about 30-40 children being diagnosed each year.
This condition affects blood where the bone marrow and stem cells do not produce sufficient blood cells.
Joey was discharged from Bristol Children's Hospital and sent back to a local hospital in Cornwall.
He was tested further in the bone marrow, and Brandon said his son had “many” blood and platelet transfusions.
After a blood test, it was discovered that Joey's two sisters were not matched with the transplant. This means that families had to wait for external donors to be available.
“They thought Joey might have had a virus or bacterial infection, but it was in the bone marrow and it would have caused this reaction in his body,” Brandon said.
“It could have been triggered, but it may be genetic, but I'm not 100% sure why it happened.”
Joey will receive chemotherapy immediately before inserting healthy bone marrow during a transplant operation scheduled for the end of November at a London hospital.
He also needs to be medically isolated in the hospital for six weeks to protect him from infection because “they are not left with immunity after chemotherapy.”
“We, as parents, are allowed to hold him, but we need to make sure we don't get infected,” Brandon said.
He added that the past five months have “made us hard and hard.”
“It was a shocking factor because I didn't realize that things like that were getting so fast,” he said.
“It's very upsetting. I'm worried about not knowing what's going to happen every day.”
Brandon said Joey had “greatly” dealt with the situation.
“He's a very happy boy, and he's usually a bouncing off energy,” he said.
“He is very aware that he feels very bad and he treats it really, really fantastical.”
Brandon has set up a GoFundMe page to help families deal with everyday costs, including accommodation and transportation costs around Joey's hospital appointment, and has raised more than £3,000 so far.
He said: “As a family, worrying about 'Can we afford to eat tonight' or 'Can we afford to give Joey a little treat' helps to remove a lot of pressure from us.
“Thank you for supporting my son and my family, words can't explain how much love, support and gratitude I feel.”
For more information, please see Joey's fundraising page here. gofundme.com/f/joey-and-his-octopus.
