The story of Brandon
It started with nosebleeds when Brandon was three years old, too heavy and too often to be normal for a young child. Then rashes started coming up, and other symptoms started creeping in; joint pain, weight loss, tiredness. It was all too much to ignore for mum Sarah, who lives with Brandon and his stepdad in Wales.
Six years on, Brandon is nine, but the family are yet to receive a confirmed diagnosis.
Doctors suspect that Brandon’s illness is a form of auto-immune syndrome, meaning his immune system is attacking healthy cells by mistake and his future is uncertain.
Sarah says that, at his worst, “Brandon looked like he was at death’s door. He struggled to walk, was white as a sheet and covered in rashes. When he was too poorly for school, he struggled emotionally and lost a lot of self-confidence.”
Now that Brandon’s on medication that seems to be helping, he’s getting his confidence back slowly, which is a big thing for him.
His medication has to be injected daily. Brandon has overcome his fear of needles and now administers his own injections every day.
“He’s grown up so much after everything he’s dealt with,” says Sarah, “he often seems like an older person in a little person’s body. He’s lost his childhood to this illness, but he’s fearless now.
Brandon turned to children’s charity Make-A-Wish UK to grant his One True Wish.
“When the hospital suggested we apply for a wish for Brandon,” Sarah continues, “I was quite upset – I thought wishes were only granted for terminally ill children.
“Brandon didn’t think he deserved a wish because he said there are other people worse off than him. But when his wish book arrived, filled with ideas and prompts, that got his imagination going.
“He’s nature-mad, and is a big David Attenborough fan! We live by a farm and Brandon has spent a lot of time around nature and horses with me. He had this idea stuck in his mind when the wish visitors came to discuss his wish – he wanted to stay in a log cabin by a river in the Highlands!”
Brandon’s wish will allow him and his family to spend quality time together, away from the realities of his condition. He can’t wait to go pony-trekking in the forest, spot deer by the log cabin and hunt for the loch ness monster in the lakes!
https://www.make-a-wish.org.uk/wishes/stories/brandons-log-cabin-wish