Mum told baby's life was in danger after returning from holiday

A mum was told her baby's life was in danger after her family returned home from a holiday.

Lyndsey Rowe first realised something was wrong with her nine month old son Mason when he wasn't crawling properly. Lyndsey said Mason was his usual happy self during a holiday at Haven Hafan y Môr Holiday Park in North Wales two days earlier.

However, after returning home to Hunts Cross, parents Lyndsey and Robert, 33, noticed Mason wasn't moving his right arm or leg and his face had fallen to one side. Lyndsey said she thought Mason, now two years old, was just being lazy at first until she realised his face was also "crooked" on one side.

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He was taken to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in October 2021 where doctors discovered he had suffered a stroke as a result of abnormal blood vessels - called cavernomas - in his brain. Lyndsey told the ECHO: "It was all of a sudden. A couple of days before we were in Haven.

"We'd gone on a little trip and he was crawling around, everything was perfectly fine. Within two days of coming home we realised he wasn't moving his right leg or right arm, and he couldn't close his right eye properly.

"We were sat on the floor together playing. When I went to move further away from him usually he would crawl to me, and he just lay down instead. He was trying to move towards me but only with his left arm."

Lyndsey and Mason's brother Leo have also previously suffered seizures as a result of cavernomas which can sometimes run in families. Mason underwent two rounds of brain surgery in April and May last year, with the second operation taking nine hours in total.

With one cavernoma being in a more dangerous place than the other, Lyndsey said: "It wasn't a case of if to have it removed it was a case of when.

"Doctors referred to it as a ticking time bomb - if it didn't get removed it would bleed badly and it could have paralysed him, or it could have killed him."

Despite the severity of the second round of surgery, Lyndsey said Mason has made a good recovery. He is continuing to undergo occupational and physiotherapy, and will return to Alder Hey for a further MRI scan in December to monitor a third cavernoma.

Lyndsey said: "He can actually walk now - that was my biggest fear. It's quite emotional. He's still quite wobbly.

"He's a lovely, happy boy. He still can't use his right arm and he's still not able to speak. He can say mamma and little things like that."

The family want to thank Alder Hey for saving Mason's life. They are set to take part in a charity walk at Knowsley Safari Park on May 12, with all money raised via a fundraising page being donated to the children's hospital.

Lyndsey added: "We owe Alder Hey his life. They've saved his life.

"The hospital itself is amazing. They treat up to 330,000 children a week and when we've stayed there there's been families who have travelled from all over England to come to that hospital because it's the best place for their child." To visit the family's fundraising page click here.

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