Sammy Jones

Hi everyone

I am raising funds for my 3 year old nephew, Sammy Jones who has had a terrible 5 weeks.

On 20 December 2018 Sammy was playing in the garden with his brother and cousins and a retaining wall collapsed and fell on his right foot. The wall crushed Sammy's foot and his foot was hanging off by the heal.

Sammy was rushed to Gateway Private Hospital and stabilised and thereafter went to Umhlanga Hospital. Sammy was operated on and his third toe was removed. The doctors were of the opinion that they could save Sammy's first two toes. Sammy was in hospital over Christmas and New Years. Sammy's foot was bandaged up and he was finally allowed to go home after New Years.

Shortly after returning home Sammy had to get his bandage changed. Sammy was not given any pain or numbing meds and his bandage was changed whilst he was screaming in absolute agony. Sammy cried that whole day and was in tremendous pain.

A few days later my brother in law and sister in law were advised to get a second opinion regarding Sammy's foot as they feared it might be infected. It turns out Sammy's foot was terribly infected and the two first toes that had been initially saved were now black and there was no option but to amputate them and a big portion of his foot below the big toe. Sammy went back into hospital on 8 January 2019 for the operation. On 11 January 2019 Sammy once again had another operation in order for the doctors to ensure that the infected had been cleared. Sammy left hospital on 15 January 2019.

Sammy now has to go under aesthetic every 4 days to have his bandage changed. Sammy will be returning to hospital on 4 February 2019 to have a surgery called free anterolateral thigh flap to rebuild his severely damaged foot. The plan is to close his foot and to try maintain as much function as possible. The operation is estimated to last between 6 - 8 hours. Sammy will thereafter spend 10 days in hospital, with the first few nights in intensive care.

You can imagine how traumatic and draining this has been on my brother in law and sister in law. My sister in law has spent every night with Sammy in hospital and people have generously been visiting as much as possible as Sammy is completely bed ridden and for a 3 year old he is very agitated at the moment. Sammy's two older brothers have very traumatised by all of this. As older brothers they hate to see their baby brother in so much pain. Daniel has particularly battled as he was with Sammy when the wall fell on his foot and he feels responsible because he didn't catch the wall in time. My brother in law has had to rearrange his whole work schedule because Sammy is very clingy at the moment and never wants to be away from his mom or dad.

To date Sammy has endured 13 major operations, spent countless days in hospital and lost three toes and a large portion of his right foot.

The reason I am raising funds is because my brother in laws medical aid does not cover Netcare hospitals. My brother in law had to pay upfront for Sammy's stay at Umhlanga hospital in December/January and his has been a huge financial strain. Sammy then went to Entabeni Hospital for his second hospital stay and this was covered by Medical Aid as it is not a Netcare hospital. The next operation, which will be done in two weeks time (6 hour operation, 1 week in ICU and 2 weeks in general ward) will not be covered as Sammy's doctor is based at St Augustines Hospital which is a Netcare Hospital. My brother in law's accident benefit has also been exhausted. A motivation has been sent to the Medical Aid for them to cover the operation and stay at St Augustines Hospital.

Sammy does not know he has lost some of his foot. He will need a prosthetic foot in time and a lot of physiotherapy to learn how to walk again. He will also need further stability procedures done in the future over the next 10 years or so. Needless to say he will also need counselling as this whole situation has been very very traumatic, especially for a 3 year old active little boy. Sammy is now having nightmares about what happened and not sleeping well.

I cannot express in words how terrible Sammy's foot is. I have seen pictures that have absolutely floored me. I cannot upload the pictures of his foot on this platform as it is absolutely terrible and not appropriate. I knew it was serious but when you actually see the foot, you will be shocked.

I am raising funds for the next part of Sammy's long road to recovery. I hope to in some way help my brother in law and sister in law and ease their stress at this time. It is not easy focusing on an injured child whilst worrying about how you are going to pay for his medical needs.

I really hope you donate to this little boy's future. He is the sweetest little guy and he deserves every chance of a normal life following this terrible accident.