Sydney teen who suffered a stroke in fight against time to remove a second tumour
A SYDNEY teenager, who suffered a stroke at school, has quick-thinking mates to thank for potentially saving his life. But he’s now in a desperate fight against time to raise funds for a major surgery to remove a second tumour.
Manly
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A TEENAGER who suffered a stroke at school has quick-thinking mates to thank for raising the alarm and potentially saving his life.
Lleyton Reece, who has since turned 18, has had one major operation to remove a benign tumour and now needs another.
He’s hoping his story will raise awareness of childhood strokes — which is one of the top 10 causes of death in under 18s — and funds for his next operation.
“I was at school and I remember feeling confused and I couldn’t understand what people were saying,” Lleyton said.
“I kept saying I was fine, but I wasn’t.”
His friend Sunny Blayney, 18, from Collaroy Plateau, said it was the last day of school for Year 12 students at Pittwater High before the HSC exams, when he noticed Lleyton was acting confused, unable to talk in proper sentences and was slurring his speech.
“I grabbed his phone, used his finger to unlock it and googled stroke symptoms,” he said.
“You don’t expect a young person to have a stroke, but his symptoms were all matching.”
Sunny then alerted teachers.
“When we got him to the sick bay he started seizuring,” he said.
“It was pretty intense.
“It puts the HSC and stressing about university into perspective.”
Lleyton, who was initially taken to Mona Vale Hospital, was found to have a large bleed on the brain.
His mum Kathryn Bloemendaal, who decided to seek the help of neurosurgeon Charlie Teo, said they later discovered he had a tumour the size of a raisin with a bleed the size of a golf ball.
Family and friends helped raise $47,000 for the operation to remove the tumour.
Now he needs a second operation to remove another tumour — 10 times the size of the original one — which was discovered at his six week check.
While it’s not bleeding yet, if it does it could leave him disabled.
Ms Bloemendaal said doctors have told her the tumour is a ticking time bomb and it will bleed, it’s just a matter of time.
“Because of the history of the last tumour which led to a large bleed, this one needs to come out,” she said.
She said if Lleyton, a talented guitarist, was able to have the operation he should be able to make a full recovery go to university and lead a normal life.
At the moment everything is on hold until after the next operation and he has been told he can’t swim, drive or drink alcohol or even coffee, in case it thins his blood or raises his heart rate. His 18th birthday was a very sober affair.
“It was a shock to find out he had suffered stroke, you just don’t expect it,” Ms Bloemendaal said.
“Without the quick actions of his friends it might have been a different outcome.
“This is meant to be the best time of his life, but his life is on hold at the moment.”
Friends of Ms Bloemendaal have set up a GoFundMe site called Brains Shouldn’t Bleed.
To donate go to gofundme.com/lleytons-fight-for-life. Some of the funds will go to Professor Teo’s new charity charlieteofoundation.org.au.
STROKE SYMPTOMS:
■ Face: Check their face. Has their mouth drooped?
■ Arms: Can they lift both arms?
■ Speech: Is their speech slurred? Do they understand you?
■ Time: Is critical. If you see any of these signs call 000 straight away.
Other symptoms include:
■ Weakness or numbness or paralysis of the face, arm or leg on either or both sides of the body
■ Difficulty speaking or understanding
■ Dizziness, loss of balance or an unexplained fall
■ Loss of vision, sudden blurring or decreased vision in one or both eyes
■ Headache, usually severe and abrupt onset or unexplained change in the pattern of headaches
■ Difficulty swallowing
