Fundraising for life-changing treatment

Fundraising for life-changing treatment

31 May 2023

A SPONSORED walk is being held in the Mournes next month to help a Downpatrick man who needs life-changing treatment.

John Magee, who was left with cerebral palsy after a freak accident when he was a child, needs to raise £30,000 to fund stem cell therapy to prevent him becoming confined to a wheelchair.

He’s raised £8,000 to date and he’s hoping more money will come in through the walk on Saturday, June 17.

Already signed up are John’s 13 year-old nephew, Junior Dickson, his friend, Michael Killen, and a number of other friends.

John wants as many other people as possible to join them for what promises to be a fun event.

“Some of the people will be going all the way to the top of Slieve Donard, but it doesn’t matter how far you go. All we want is for everyone to enjoy themselves,” John remarked.

John was just five years old when he suffered a brain injury while playing on a building site. 

The injury left him in need of surgery due to a serious bleed on the brain. When he woke from a coma two weeks later, he had no feeling down his right side.

Further investigations revealed he had cerebral palsy, which left him with limited mobility and that he would be paralysed down his right side permanently. 

He had to learn how to walk and talk again, and was held back in school during his recovery.

John, who lives on the Saul Road, said stem cell treatment in Switzerland is his last chance of giving him back greater mobility — and a chance of normal life as a husband and father in the future.

“There is no cure and my prognosis will only get worse. It is likely I will be in a wheelchair in five years and I don’t want that to be my life,” he said.

“I’m on medication and I get physiotherapy once a week. I also have to wear wrist and leg splints on my right side.

“I have good days and bad days, but I’m the same person and I try not to let it get me down.

“Every day I feel a little more stiffer and my hand feels tighter and more sore with a limited use. I have been thinking of this treatment for years but always felt it was out of my reach.”

John has researched stem cell treatment therapy — which will require six spinal injections — and has spoken with specialist doctors in Switzerland who believe that they can help him.

Not available on the NHS, the costly regenerative therapy has the potential to replace the damaged and non-functional cells in the brains of cerebral palsy patients.

While not a complete cure, Mr Magee has been told that there is an 85% success rate for the treatment.

“I feel that now is the time to do this. If I don’t do it now, it may be too late. My condition is only going to get worse over time. I’m taking more painkillers each day and I’m seeing the doctor more.”

Mr Magee said he takes 15 painkillers each day to deal with his pain, which is exacerbated by cold weather.

Supported by his late father Gerald and mother Jennifer, Mr Magee strove to maintain a near normal life growing up.

“Doctors insisted that I would never be able to do what other children my age took for granted, like playing soccer, sports or riding a bike, but I persevered with the help of my mother and late father, determined to live as normal a life as possible, despite the physical challenges of everyday life.

“Eventually, after physiotherapy, I regained the use of my leg, although there was now a difference of one and three quarter inches compared to the length of my left leg.

“My mother even bought me a bicycle, which she taught me how to ride by taping my foot to the pedal. Very soon I was able to cycle normally like all the other children my age.”

Despite all the years of physiotherapy, which he still undergoes and his qualifying as a personal trainer, Mr Magee is feeling that he’s running out of time.

“I’ve done as much as I can myself for my own body and proved nearly everybody wrong about what I could or could not do,” he said. “But I’m getting more fatigued during the day and my mental health is worsening.

“This procedure would give me a new lease of life. I am willing to work as hard as I can to make this happen and I would be indebted to anyone who can help.”

Anyone wanting to take part in the sponsored walk on June 17 is asked to meet at Flynn’s Garage in Downpatrick at 8am. Sponsor sheets are available and donations can be made at www.gofundme.com/f/help-john-have-a-new-start-in-life? Charity buckets for John can be found in a number of premises in Downpatrick.