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Jack Barron (Go Fund Me)

Great news, Jack, may your progress continue on its upward trend!

Also - (a bit late in the day I know) - donated.
 
TODAY by Helen Mead, Beneficiary
Sorry it’s been a long time since I have updated you all on Jack’s condition. I have been waiting, hoping for a definitive out-of-the-woods message for over a week now but unfortunately we aren’t quite there yet.

Jack was critically unwell with Covid in hospital after testing positive at the beginning of February; and last Tuesday, after nearly a month of treatment, he was transferred back from the medical ward into the neuro-rehab ward. Which was very good news indeed.

His Dr says it’s “very difficult to know when he will be out of the woods” -
But certainly he has been stable the last couple of weeks and that is “reassuring”.

He is still on a “trickle” of oxygen at rest and although he has now had a number of negative Covid tests, and has just been transferred back to a bay in the main ward yesterday morning - his lungs are still “angry and inflamed and a little damaged” and “like a wound healing it just takes time”.

He has been having physiotherapy to stop his lungs de-conditioning - after being in bed for so long - and it’s very counterintuitive to him at the moment to engage with this as he needs much more oxygen when he moves. His Dr says it’s “slow steps” and “could well take a long time”.

Now the priority is building his strength back up- luckily his appetite hasn’t been affected, his lungs healing and not needing the oxygen.

Jack, thou still demonstrating his super dry sense of humour, is currently more confused than he was before Covid. This could well be down to the steroid drugs he needed to help beat the Covid pneumonia, and the Dr hopes this effect on his memory, will clear in the next couple of weeks. Thankfully- those steroids have also helped keep the vasculitis at bay so there has been no progression in this. The hospital hope to be able to resume the original treatment plan soon.

Last Sunday as well as enjoying a football match on his iPad courtesy of lots of extra work from Ruby, a most amazing nurse who has been tweaking it for him; he also had his favourite meal, a cheeseburger from Honest Burger. Incredibly Alex, the assistant manager at the local branch- not only made it personally, he also delivered it to the hospital door for him - and has arranged the same for him every Sunday.

These acts of kindness from strangers towards Jack - discovering people who go the extra mile - has powerfully transformed this whole experience. It makes you feel so much more at ease. More connected. More hopeful. Allows a world to come into focus that is built on love not fear. Believe it. Beauty is all around us. For now Jack gets to experience this through his iPad - which as he puts this evening: “is better than nothing” (haha)- hopefully we will be able to visit him in person soon - he says he’d like that.

Helen Mead 11/3/21

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-jac...m_campaign=p_email+1137-update-supporters-v5b
 
Good to hear you are improving Jack. I've missed your pithy observations on football, music and life in general. Get well soon.
 
I hope things are slowly improving.

Sending a thought, which I hope Jack receives.

Best Wishes. x
 
Latest update guys.

TODAY by Helen Mead, Beneficiary
Jack has a phrase that comes up many of the times when I speak to him and Charlie, his speech and language therapist, mentioned it last week when we spoke too. It’s an example of how succinct, lucid and thoughtful he can be in the midst of this storm his mind and body are experiencing.
Often it comes up when talking about what he is coping with at any particular moment - pain or discomfort that he is experiencing, or frustration around time passing slowly (often because his short term memory isn’t good he doesn’t remember therapy sessions or even meals that have just happened) or the slowness of recovery; he will have been in hospital for six months in a few days.
“It is what it is,” he says simply.
With a look that says what else is there to do but accept.
It is always so profound when he does this that it stops me in my tracks. How right he is! It’s the acceptance we always strive for in our meditation practice or the lesson we learn and continually remind ourselves of with the serenity prayer. It strikes me that all Jack’s years in recovery have placed him in a much better place to deal with all he is going through at this stage of his journey.

Everything continues to flux and change at such a rate in Jack’s recovery even though on other levels change can seem so slow.
Just over a week ago Jack was taken off the oxygen he still required at rest which was such a huge step in his post-Covid recovery.
His body was still very “deconditioned”, the therapists and medics call it, and he still needed much more oxygen on mobilisation but had gone from just being able to stand (with his physio Michele on one side of him and his occupational therapist Raakhee on the other), to getting into his chair, to walking 8 metres and then 15 metres. Which just felt like the most amazing feat!
Though the effort of this really knocked him out and he went back to sleeping for most of the day. This was all such good news to end the week before last on.

Roger and I actually got to see him for a few minutes on the Wednesday afternoon - all of us masked up - us in the corridor outside the ward, him in a chair a few metres back in the corridor of 9 West - all supervised by a nurse. In a world where visits still aren’t allowed this was as good as it gets. We were able to pass over coffee and cake and to really see him smile. It was such a great moment. Us all just grinning away.

Perhaps that was a good time to update you all but we were waiting for a big team meeting when Jack was stronger to find out next moves regarding restarting immunosuppressants to treat his vasculitis, the underlying condition that caused his strokes in the first place.
As well as a better idea of what the plan could be for further rehabilitation. Before the Covid he was waiting for a bed in a unit at St George’s for an estimated 12 week to 6 month period. Before hopefully being able to go home.

Then suddenly out of the blue this Wednesday morning, a week after we we saw him, at 10am after breakfast he threw a sudden fever and his tongue became swollen and his mouth was full of painful ulcers. His consultant said he’d “the worst case of thrush” she’d “ever seen”.
They had to put him back on a drip to make sure he was hydrated and on nil by mouth - as he couldn’t swallow anything at all and the rest of the day and that night he was being watched very carefully as they were worried he couldn’t even swallow his own saliva.
Thankfully by Thursday morning things were improving and by Friday afternoon he was able to eat some chocolate mousse. One of his favourite hospital treats. Great news as otherwise they were going to have to try and fit a nasal feed - which could have very well been easier said than done.

We are doing everything we can to keep Jack’s spirits up. Yesterday he got to watch his beloved Chelsea win and he was “super happy” when Karen spoke to him after and even remembered the score - which is a great sign of his short-term memory improving.
We have a circle of friends from all walks of life calling in three times a day to check up on him, to let him know he is loved and missed, and to listen to him and keep a smile on his face. So if you would like to speak to Jack do please let me know and I will add you to the rota.
Today we hope he will be able to watch the football all day and next week Charlie is going to work on making a Spotify playlist with him. He still needs help and support with using the iPad but is getting better. While he is still not allowed visitors this is his lifeline to the outside world and we are working hard to make sure that each moment is as pleasurable as it can be and we hope, increasingly memorable.
Let’s all do our best to fully be here now and have the grace to accept whatever life throws at us. As Jack would say: “It is what it is...”
Much love to you all for your kindness, Helen x
 
Jack, as a special tribute I have decided to support Chelsea today. I'm sure you know how difficult that is. All best and as Bob says, I hope you can watch.
 


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