A DONCASTER boy with a respiratory condition is benefiting from state-of-the-art technology worth more than £50,000 to help him lead a normal life.
The Action Laboratory at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, Yorkshire’s only dedicated paediatric lung testing facility, has been funded by donations to closely monitor a child’s respiratory response to exercise using methods similar to those used by athletes when assessing their performance.
One patient will benefit from the new equipment is seven-year-old Addison Connor, of Old Road, Conisbrough.
Addison, a Morley Place Junior School pupil, was born with a diaphragmatic hernia which had stopped one of his lungs from developing properly.
The hernia had caused his stomach organs to move up into his chest through an opening in the muscles which allows us to breathe. He underwent several emergency procedures to treat the condition.
Mum Rachel Blyth, aged 41, said: “When Addison was eight-months-old, he stopped breathing while I was at home alone with him. All of a sudden he just went floppy - it’s a mother’s worst nightmare.
“That was the first of Addison’s many stays in ICU at The Children’s Hospital while he was growing up - he was a very poorly little boy. It was a very scary time.”
Now Addison lives life like any other child his age, with the help of an oxygen cylinder which aids his breathing and the Action Laboratory. “The tests give our family peace of mind. They help us know what his limitations are and that really helps us manage his condition,” said Rachel.
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