The family of a Blairgowrie teenager recovering from a severe brain injury are fundraising to thank doctors and nurses for saving his life.
Kieran Lamond, 15, fell off his bike while cycling home from his local shop in October, and was immediately taken into emergency surgery at Ninewells Hospital and put on life support.
However the Blairgowrie High School pupil is now making “amazing” progress in the children’s ward, and his family are looking to raise some money to help the hospital buy some contactless thermometers as a way of saying thank you.
Step-mum Nicola Lamond said: “Kieran is doing amazing, he is getting on really well.
“He is speaking now and has little twitches on his left side – there is not a lot of movement but he is getting physiotherapy twice a day.
“He also now has a tube into his stomach rather than through his nose for his medicine and he can eat pureed food too.
“Kieran went from ICU to high dependency and now he is on the children’s ward which is one step closer to home.
“He really wants to come home now because he is fed up, but he needs to be in the hospital for his therapy.
“It will be a good while before he can come home.”
“He has not had any contact with his sisters, they can only speak to him over FaceTime because of Covid-19.
“Our four-year-old cries every night for him and there is nothing we can do just now.
“It is also his youngest sister’s birthday this week and we can celebrate with Kieran in person which is a shame, but we can celebrate everything properly when he gets home.”
It is the second time a child of the family has been saved by Ninewells staff.
Kieran’s sister Arianna became severely ill in 2016 when she was just two days old.
“I just want to give something back to the hospital because this is not the first time they have helped our family,” said Nicola.
“They saved Kieran’s youngest sister’s life when she was just a baby and I want them to know how much we appreciate all they have done for us.
“She ended up being diagnosed with genetic epilepsy and the hospital saved her life too.
“Without them she would not be here either.”
Nicola has set up a GoFundMe page and is aiming to raise £500 to buy the contactless thermometers.
She added: “We have noticed, especially in the children’s ward, they are still using ear thermometers.
“Recently I bought a contactless thermometer because I have five children at home and I want to make sure they are safe from Covid-19, because we have had it.
“It is the best thing I have ever bought and I think the hospital would benefit from them so much.
“Someone like Kieran doesn’t like the thermometer going into his ear because it is uncomfortable.
“If we can buy a few contactless thermometers it would be easier to take younger children’s temperatures in the children’s ward, and also in ICU and the Covid-19 part of the hospital.
“A contactless thermometer would also mean less physical contact between staff and patients which would be good during the pandemic.
Kieran’s former school, Perth Grammar School, also donated a Nintendo Switch device for him to play with in hospital
“They also have more funds for him to buy himself some new trainers and clothes, which is absolutely amazing,” Nicola added.
