A mother was told her baby boy had a "ticking time bomb" inside him days after they returned from a family holiday. Lyndsey Rowe noticed her nine-month-old wasn't crawling properly but was his "happy self" while at a Haven holiday park days prior.
The family had visited Hafan y Môr Holiday Park in North Wales but returned home Hunts Cross in Liverpool and noticed Mason wasn't moving the right hand side of his body and his face had fallen to one side, reports the Liverpool Echo.
The distressed mum initially thought Mason wasn't crawling due to being "lazy" but father Robert eventually took him to Alder Hey Children's Hospital while Lyndsey stayed at home with six-year-old son Leo.
She told the Echo: "It was all of a sudden. A couple of days before we were in Haven. We'd gone on a little trip and he was crawling around, everything was perfectly fine. Within two days of coming home we realised he wasn't moving his right leg or right arm, and he couldn't close his right eye properly.
"We were sat on the floor together playing. When I went to move further away from him usually he would crawl to me, and he just lay down instead. He was trying to move towards me but only with his left arm.
"I was in a complete panic. I was trying my hardest not to cry because Leo was with me. As soon as we found out my mum was on a plane from Ireland straight away the next morning to be with our other little boy Leo, so I could go to the hospital."
An MRI scan showed Mason had suffered a stroke as a result of abnormal blood vessels - called cavernomas - in his brain. His brother Leo had previously suffered from seizures.
The tot would spent months in and out of hospital having more scans before doctors could operate. In April, he suffered seven seizures in one day and was prescribed medication for epilepsy.
One cavernoma was said to be in a more dangerous place than the others. Lyndsey said: "It wasn't a case of 'if' to have it removed it was a case of 'when'. Doctors referred to it as a ticking time bomb - if it didn't get removed it would bleed badly and it could have paralysed him, or it could have killed him."
A successful operation on April 18 removed the first cavernoma and he will undergo a second operation this month. Lyndsey wants to share her thanks with staff at the hospital for helping to save her son's life, with Mason said to be back to his happy self after the initial surgery.
The family will be taking part in a charity walk at Knowsley Safari Park on May 14, with all money raised via a fundraising page going to the Alder Hey facility. She added: "He's such an incredible baby. He was giggling and smiling ever since surgery.
"The day after his operation he was sat up eating Jaffa Cakes as if nothing had happened. We've brought him home and he's back crawling again, pulling himself up.
"When we've been [at Alder Hey] all the nurses, all the staff, are absolutely incredible. They make you feel so at home and comforted. There's a musician that goes around the wards with a guitar and sings to the kids.
"There's a dog that goes to visit them - you can just see how much of a difference it makes to those children, how much more comforted they feel. The neurosurgeons are unbelievable."
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here .
