“We’ve never actually had a Christmas meal, we tried once, and it lasted us four hours”
Patrick with his mum Jade Brown(Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
A five-year-old boy who has spent his whole life in and out of hospital may be about to spend his first full Christmas at home.
Patrick Brown was born with dysplasia in his kidneys in 2020. Treatment for the illness means he needs a dialysis machine which is integral to keeping him alive.
The condition is an abnormal development of cells or organs which prevents the blood in a patient’s body to filter as well as it should.
Born on the cusp of Covid, it meant the youngster had to stay in the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital for close to two years.
Following the pandemic, while most of the public’s lives returned to normal, Patrick’s remained the same. Now he spends more time in hospital than at home with his mum Jade, dad, John, two sisters and little brother.
The Denton family’s gruelling schedule sees Patrick spend three days a week on a ward alongside his mum, who often wakes in the early hours of the morning to take him there.
She also sleeps with him on wards during overnight stays that can last as long as two weeks.
Patrick and Jade spend their days at the hospital (Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
“He was born weeks before Covid so we got stuck in hospital for 16 to 18 months.” Explained Jade, 34. “It’s so hard, we get up at 5:30am. I take Patrick’s dialysis and John takes the other children to school.
“John’s brought up the kids because I’ve not been there, which has been hard to deal with. Some days we’ll go to hospital and I’ve got to stay there for ten days because we’ve got no choice.
“If you look at Patrick he looks like a normal little boy, but he hasn’t even got a school place so he’s missing out on playing with friends.”
Now, for the first time ever, the family have been given the chance to spend Christmas together at their home.
The opportunity comes in the form of Jon Adams, a popular food critic who has gone viral multiple times this year after leaving his job at Iceland to review food.
Jonny Adams(Image: Jam Press/Jonny Adams Food Reviews)
After a successful year, Jonny and his wanted to give back to the community who have supported his journey and do something to help children living in the Greater Manchester area this year.
After “thousands” of comments and messages, Jonny was touched by Patrick’s story and chose him as one of the young kids he would help this Christmas.
Jonny told the Manchester Evening News: “They’ve missed out on so much together.
“He wants an electric bike but I’m going to take him to Smiths and ruin the store like never before. I’m going sort their Christmas dinner out and their drinks out.
“Obviously he’s got two sisters and a brother, so I did a call-out to my followers to help them also. It’s been hard to pick but as soon as I got sent Patrick’s story over and over again you just know straightaway.”
Patrick has spent all his life in and out of hospital
Patrick, who has two sisters, Ellie 16, and Tilly, 7, and one brother, Jacob, 4, is hoping Santa will be able to visit him at home for the first time this year.
Jade said he had asked for an electric bike from Santa (which Jonny has promised to pay for), but she is also hoping that the GoFundMe might raise enough money to help buy presents for his brother and sisters too.
“It would be really helpful because you know how things are at the moment with bills. We’ve never actually had a Christmas meal, we tried once, and it lasted us four hours.
“I had to take him back because he had just woken up from ICU. We were able to take him for four hours and I quickly had to take him back.
“After reading Jon’s message, it was the first time I’ve actually had a decent amount of sleep because I wasn’t worrying about anything.
“Just from that one little thing he’s done. I can’t thank him and his partner enough.”