'This isn't a sob story': Mum warns people of the 'perils of diabetes' after son suffers hypoglycemic brain damage
A diabetic man has sustained life-changing hypoglycemic brain damage
The mother of a 40-year-old, who was found unresponsive in his home, is warning people of the ‘perils of diabetes’ after low blood sugars caused her son to suffer brain damage.
Just days after returning from a trip to Prague, Wayne Hewitt, was found unconscious on the floor of his Gosport home by his mum, Peta Yates, and his sister, on Wednesday, May 27.
The site manager was rushed to QA Hospital alongside the air ambulance critical care team who assisted in incubating him en route.
.jpg?crop=3:2,smart&trim=&width=640&quality=65)
Peta, also from Gosport, was told her son’s condition was a direct result of hypoglycemia which happens when blood sugars dip dangerously low. She told The News how Wayne has spent the last 20 years as a diabetic and has “managed well.”
She said: “Wayne hadn’t replied in the family chat and Casey, his sister, came round and said she was worried about him so I went round to his house with her as it was unlike him not to reply and we found him on the floor. We tried to put him in the recovery position and I was on the phone to the ambulance.
“It has been traumatic. We have spent a lot of time crying. I don’t think a day has gone past without crying because we want the old Wayne back and it has been hard. It’s been awful for his sisters to see their big brother like this. His sister Casey relives the moment we found him all the time - we were trying to bring him round and it was just so scary.”
Wayne, who is currently in the Lotus Rehabilitation ward at the Cosham hospital, spent four weeks in a medically induced coma after the prolonged state of hypoglycemia caused a series of uncontrollable seizures.
“They did try bringing him out a couple of times and it took a long time for him to wake up and it was at that point they were telling me things weren’t looking good and there were serious problems - he had a lot of CT and EGG scans to see if there was brain activity so we had to go through all of that and it was awful”, Peta continued.
An MRI scan revealed the dad-of-one sustained life-changing damage to the left hand side of his brain which controls memory, logical thinking, speech, movement and reasoning.
.jpeg?trim=241,0,243,0&crop=&width=640&quality=65)
As a result of the injury, Wayne has no recollection of his Prague trip, and has had to learn how to walk and talk again. He is expected to remain in hospital for the foreseeable future before being discharged.
Peta added: “This isn’t a sob story, we want to raise awareness of the perils of diabetes and the challenges people face.
“One day he was absolutely fine and the next his whole life is falling apart and you can’t do anything about it.”
A GoFundMe page has also been launched by a close friend to support Wayne and his family during his recovery. Since being created on June 28, the fundraiser has already reached £2,431 which is being set aside for when Wayne returns home.
Wayne’s mum continued: “It’s a lifelong injury but it’s about trying to cope with it. Our biggest worry is when he comes out - we are going to support him as a family to help control everything with his insulin and understand what he will be unable to do by himself.”