Cameron Charles Lindsay was born on the 29th August 2002, he was our first born and what a one to get for your first! Right from the word go he was an angel, slept through the night & slotted right in with our lives, my goodness if you could guarantee they would all be like him you would have a dozen!!
He was an extremely endearing child, ingratiating himself with everyone but especially the ladies, he had them wrapped around his little finger! He charmed the pants off his teachers at playgroup, his leader used to say to me "It wouldn't surprise me if he went on to become Prime Minister someday you know!"
And the same when he went to school, at the end of his P1 year he was awarded the top pupil prize as the child that stood out with promise, potential and personality. He continued to thrive as he went through school, quickly becoming a bright student and showing a great aptitude for sport, especially football, cricket and golf. He captained the school cricket team as well as playing a club side Templepatrick. He played both as a striker and in goals for the school football team and showed quite a flare for golf, winning the cup for best 9 hole player in his club 2 years in a row. His good looks did not go unnoticed and he began a fledgling modelling career, stepping onto the catwalk for several charity fashion shows, and as you can imagine he strutted his stuff very well!
He was your typical outdoor active boy, spending his summers at our beach cottage, sailing, jet skiing, playing hunt, having imaginary battles on the beach, golfing and building fires on the beach to toast marshmallows at sunset.
Even though he missed two thirds of his P7 year at school he was awarded the cup for best all round contribution to school life both academically and in sportsmanship, a very very proud moment. 3 weeks before he took the earthquake in his brain he received his AQE results and had attained his much wanted dream of following his dad's footsteps into grammar school at Ballyclare High. He had been talking about going there from he was in playgroup. When we would drive passed the school gates, "that's where I'm going to go when I'm a big boy mummy" he'd say!
Cameron was growing & blossoming into an incredibly handsome and capable young man, very excited about starting the next, more independent stage of his life at grammar school. He was eager to get there, to start travelling by bus, to go to the after school activities and start his new subjects - Cameron always had such an appetite for learning, the conversations we used to have in the car were fantastic, from geography to economics, to politics & genetics, world affairs & studying people and their behaviours, he was always very astute that way, had you sussed in seconds! Lol
Jonathan and I were immensely proud of him, I was so so excited to see where life was going to take him.......
Little did I know what direction it actually was taking him.
We have been trough a grieving process this last year, we watched him loose his ability in all aspects of live in a matter of weeks, the son we knew is gone, even if we get him back to health he will never be that boy he was for 11 & 1/2 years.......
However, I do believe our path is laid out for us in life and it has taken me over a year to get my head around the path that seems to be our future. It's only now I feel I'm finally getting to grips with the beast that is PANDAS, and the impact it has had on our lives. I can't change what has happened but I can influence the future and the path this beast leads us on. I'm trying desperately to turn the negatives that daily life presents us with in to positives, or at least what could become positives. This is now our path in life, this will be our future, raising awareness of this rare condition and putting in place support, help and advice for future families that are fated to travel this journey after us. When Cameron asks me "Why me mummy?" I have no answer, only to say that I believe this will shape the person he will become, that whatever his future is, he maybe needs to travel this journey to fulfil his potential, that maybe he's destined to help others in the future, maybe this will teach him the empathy and lessons he needs to impact others lives...... Maybe that sounds airy fairy and looking at it through rose tinted glasses but it's how I get up in the morning, and how I find the strength to continue to do battle with this disease for my son. And it's a battle I WILL win, this condition picked the mummy when it decided to mess with my family and I !! Thank you for taking the time to read our story and follow our journey.
He was an extremely endearing child, ingratiating himself with everyone but especially the ladies, he had them wrapped around his little finger! He charmed the pants off his teachers at playgroup, his leader used to say to me "It wouldn't surprise me if he went on to become Prime Minister someday you know!"
And the same when he went to school, at the end of his P1 year he was awarded the top pupil prize as the child that stood out with promise, potential and personality. He continued to thrive as he went through school, quickly becoming a bright student and showing a great aptitude for sport, especially football, cricket and golf. He captained the school cricket team as well as playing a club side Templepatrick. He played both as a striker and in goals for the school football team and showed quite a flare for golf, winning the cup for best 9 hole player in his club 2 years in a row. His good looks did not go unnoticed and he began a fledgling modelling career, stepping onto the catwalk for several charity fashion shows, and as you can imagine he strutted his stuff very well!
He was your typical outdoor active boy, spending his summers at our beach cottage, sailing, jet skiing, playing hunt, having imaginary battles on the beach, golfing and building fires on the beach to toast marshmallows at sunset.
Even though he missed two thirds of his P7 year at school he was awarded the cup for best all round contribution to school life both academically and in sportsmanship, a very very proud moment. 3 weeks before he took the earthquake in his brain he received his AQE results and had attained his much wanted dream of following his dad's footsteps into grammar school at Ballyclare High. He had been talking about going there from he was in playgroup. When we would drive passed the school gates, "that's where I'm going to go when I'm a big boy mummy" he'd say!
Cameron was growing & blossoming into an incredibly handsome and capable young man, very excited about starting the next, more independent stage of his life at grammar school. He was eager to get there, to start travelling by bus, to go to the after school activities and start his new subjects - Cameron always had such an appetite for learning, the conversations we used to have in the car were fantastic, from geography to economics, to politics & genetics, world affairs & studying people and their behaviours, he was always very astute that way, had you sussed in seconds! Lol
Jonathan and I were immensely proud of him, I was so so excited to see where life was going to take him.......
Little did I know what direction it actually was taking him.
We have been trough a grieving process this last year, we watched him loose his ability in all aspects of live in a matter of weeks, the son we knew is gone, even if we get him back to health he will never be that boy he was for 11 & 1/2 years.......
However, I do believe our path is laid out for us in life and it has taken me over a year to get my head around the path that seems to be our future. It's only now I feel I'm finally getting to grips with the beast that is PANDAS, and the impact it has had on our lives. I can't change what has happened but I can influence the future and the path this beast leads us on. I'm trying desperately to turn the negatives that daily life presents us with in to positives, or at least what could become positives. This is now our path in life, this will be our future, raising awareness of this rare condition and putting in place support, help and advice for future families that are fated to travel this journey after us. When Cameron asks me "Why me mummy?" I have no answer, only to say that I believe this will shape the person he will become, that whatever his future is, he maybe needs to travel this journey to fulfil his potential, that maybe he's destined to help others in the future, maybe this will teach him the empathy and lessons he needs to impact others lives...... Maybe that sounds airy fairy and looking at it through rose tinted glasses but it's how I get up in the morning, and how I find the strength to continue to do battle with this disease for my son. And it's a battle I WILL win, this condition picked the mummy when it decided to mess with my family and I !! Thank you for taking the time to read our story and follow our journey.