A family’s world was shattered when a little boy’s slurred speech led to a devastating terminal diagnosis, as doctors discovered a brain tumour.
Dave and Ashley McKenzie from West Lothian, Scotland, were concerned when Jaxon, six, started slurring and when they spotted he had an “almost lazy leg” rushed him to A&E. Within days doctors told them their young son, who had been fit and healthy before the diagnosis, had a brain tumour and he was given just nine to 12 months to live.
Tragically the youngster died in December and his parents have since launched a charity in his name, known as Jaxon’s Gift.
Dave, a firefighter, told EdinburghLive : “I can’t even put into words how we felt. It was the worst thing that’s ever happened to any of us.
“It came out of the blue. Jaxon was a fit, happy six-year-old. Over the space of a few days we noticed his speech was a bit slurred and he had almost a lazy leg.
“This was over a weekend, and by the Sunday we took him up to St John’s in Livingston. They gave him a CT scan, and we thought it was maybe a stroke.
“There was a kind of shadow, and he got sent to the Sick Kids in Edinburgh . By the Monday morning, he was given an MRI and they told us it was a Diffuse Midline Glioma – a terminal brain tumour.
“There was very little they could do. The risks with operating are so high, we were told he would live for around nine to 12 months.
“She (Jaxon’s sister Ayda) had not long turned two when Jaxon was diagnosed. Since he passed, it’s been really hard for her. She’s been really good, but she misses him every day. They were so close. He was the protective big brother, so it’s tough on her.”
Before Jaxon’s death the family were able to make lots of memories together thanks to other charities, they now hope to pass on with Jaxon’s Gift, with Dave’s best friend Stuart having a helping hand in getting the ball rolling.
Dave added: “It was Stuart that did the lion’s share. It was purely up to him that the charity has got to where it has. He researched how to set up a charity and got the ball rolling. He’s been the main one doing it, and did the majority of the work.
“Doing the charity is allowing us to keep talking about him. It was difficult at the start, nobody wanted to mention his name in case we got upset. Talking about him is helping. It keeps his name alive, keeps alive for us really.”
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.
