Meet the miracle boy who had a one-in-ten chance of surviving rare illness – and won

Published on Sunday 9 August 2009 21:59

WHEN Jack Pearson collapsed in agonising pain "like being kicked in the head" the teenager was given a one in ten chance of surviving.

The 14-year-old Scottish schoolboy had suffered an extremely rare brain haemorrhage.

But against the odds the teenager from Lerwick, Shetland, survived and

his remarkable recovery has now made him something of a celebrity in the medical world.

"I'm very lucky to be here," he said. "I was given worse odds than Russian roulette in the beginning.

"I'm just glad it's over now and I'm looking forward to getting back to normal."

Jack was initially taken to the local Gilbert Bain hospital where he underwent a brain scan and was diagnosed with a spontaneous subarachnoid haemorrhage.

The condition, which kills more than half of its victims, meant that a vessel, leading to the main "clockwork" of the brain, had burst and blood was damaging the tissue.

His mother Sandra Pearson said: "It was the most terrifying time.

"I was told that no-one had ever encountered a case where the aneurysm was such an irregular shape in such a place in someone so young. It was all in the unknown."

Emergency brain surgery was the only option and Jack was transferred to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. But the aneurysm was so rare it could not be treated in the normal way and Jack was sent on to NHS Lothian into the regional centre for clinical neuroscience at the Western General Hospital.

Leading experts Dr Robin Sellar and Dr Phil White had to establish the extent of the aneurysm and develop a life- saving strategy within minutes.

Dr Sellar said: "Jack is a very lucky boy indeed.

"He was very sick and the danger was that he suffered another haemorrhage before or during the operations.

"His case was definitely not straightforward."

He added: "He had a dissecting aneurysm, splitting the wall of the main artery to the clockwork of the brain as well as involving two of the main cerebral arteries.

"We have never treated anything like this in someone so young.

"Normally patients are in their 40s and 50s.

"He has become a bit of a celebrity in neurological circles now because his case is so rare. We even use it in training now."

Every year around 8,000 people in the UK have a subarachnoid haemorrhage.

It is more common in middle-aged people, and women are more likely to be affected than men.

Half of those affected are left severely disabled or die.

The exact cause of Jack's haemorrhage may remain a mystery, as there was no usual genetic or traumatic explanation.

Jack has now been given a clean bill of health and has just three small scars on his inner thigh to show for his ordeal.

He will continue to receive check-ups at the Western General Hospital to monitor his recovery over the coming years.

Mrs Pearson added: "We were extremely lucky, but I would hate anyone else to go through the same as us because the outcome could easily have been very different."

HOW THE PROCEDURE WORKS

IN THE space of five weeks, Jack Pearson needed three operations, each lasting three hours, to repair the burst blood vessel in his head.

Surgeons used pioneering technology and inserted a tube into the artery in his leg and threaded it all the way up to his brain. Blood thinning drugs were given before inserting metal stents into the affected vessel in the brain to prevent blood flowing into the aneurysm and rupturing again.

Tiny platinum coils were inserted into the aneurysm to prevent extra blood flowing into the swelling.