Little Achievers Kindergarten at Penshurst is throwing its support behind one of their own.
One of the children they look after is Korey, a one-and-a-half year old boy who has spent most of his time by his dad’s side in hospital.
Korey’s father, Bart Brunton, 39, is undergoing rehabilitation in the hope he will walk again.
The Lugarno dad has Guillain-Barré syndrome – a rare autoimmune disease that causes spreading paralysis.
It affects one in 100,000 people, and usually follows a viral or bacterial infection.
The family was celebrating Christmas Eve dinner in 2017 when Mr Brunton felt pins and needles, and started having severe back pain.
He was taken to St George Hospital, and within a week was paralysed from the chin down.
Most patients – 80 to 90 per cent – make a full recovery. Many may take a year to recover. Some patients do not recover completely and have residual weakness and numbness.
Mr Brunton’s wife Sue, a nurse, returned to work to support the family, which will need to renovate their house to make it more wheelchair-friendly for when her husband is discharged from hospital in November.
Little Achievers Kindergarten is calling on community donations, and has launched a GoFundMe page to help the Bruntons reach a fundraising goal of $60,000. About $2000 has been raised so far.
“It’s very lovely they thought of us, we are overwhelmed,” Mrs Brunton said. “We hope Bart makes a full recovery.”
Mr Brunton says he would also like to raise awareness of the condition.
“I’d like to keep this fundraising going for others who have helped me,” he said.
“It’s been a long journey, bit of a roller coaster ride. Being away 10 months in hospital from my little boy has been the hardest thing...we had his first birthday party here. But I’m getting outstanding care.”
Kindergarten director Sultan Baskonyali says providing assistance to the family promotes well-being and support children’s mental health.
“The children and their families are a part of our family,” she said.
“We would like to help provide financial assistance to the family in their ongoing medical expenses as they battle the unfortunate situation which they have been dealt with.
“This is a disease that is uncommon, so we are also hoping to raise awareness to our community about the severity of the syndrome.”
