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HHUGS In the News |
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HH Surgery Kings
College Hospital Montreal Neurological Institute
HH Media Archive
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This is the place where you will find the latest
news in the treatment of HH worldwide. New developments are occuring every day, so check
back often! Here we will let you know about the latest published research about HH, the exciting surgical developments occuring in Australia and elsewhere, and alert you about HH related stories in the media. Check the links on the left to find out more about these developments and make sure you visit our HH Media Archive. If you have any news you would like to contribute to this site, please email us at craigndeb@eisa.net.au
Wednesday 6 November 2002 Sunday 3 November, 2002 Tuesday 15 October, 2002 Monday 7 October 2002 SURGEON GIVES PHILLIP HIS CHANCE FOR INDEPENDENCE Phillip Mountford, aged 19, underwent six hours of surgery performed by the illness' world leading expert who has been flown in from Australia. Phillip - registered disabled from his condition - was one of just four UK patients having the treatment yesterday and today at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford by the specialist, Professor Jeffrey Rosenfeld. The other three are children. Doctors providing his care for the past three years put him forward only after travelling to Melbourne to study the professor in action so they could judge the chances of the procedure working. If the 50 piece-sized cancer tumour is successfully removed, Phillip, of Robinson Avenue, Sneyd Green, will be free to leave home for the first time in his life without carers watching his every move. His mother, Sheila, said: "We cannot believe he has been given this unique opportunity for treatment. Without it, he will continue to deteriorate and possibly die young. He is such a lovely and uncomplaining boy, he really deserves this." In the past year a handful of other British children have been
treated by Prof Rosenfeld - but their families have had to raise the fees themselves
and take their loved ones to his Australian hospital. But the Radcliffe, The operation is so cutting-edge that in theatre with Phillip's surgical team were British doctors observing every step in the hope they can eventually make it a mainstream part of their own medical armoury. Afterwards he was referred to one of the Radcliffe centre's private wings where he is expected to stay for a week before returning home. Phillip's illness was diagnosed when he was one and since then drugs have been used to try to control the seizures. Called a hamartoma, the cancer tumour has nestled deep in the part of the brain governing the senses and traditional neuro-surgery would be too risky. It has left him with no concentration, little short-term memory and between 12 and 15 fits a day. Amazingly one function left unharmed is his ability to understand music and Phillip has channelled all his energies in that direction. A former pupil at Blackfriars special school in Newcastle, he is now studying music at Stoke-on-Trent College's Burslem campus. He plays trombone with Stoke Brass Band and his latest ambition is to be with them for a concert in Barcelona, Spain, next month. Mrs Mountford said today: "Last week, out
of the blue we were told the Professor had agreed to come over here and we were
to take Phillip to see him on Monday. We breathed a huge sigh of relief
when "Everything else known to medicine has been tried and failed. Once he went to a Manchester hospital to have an implant in his vagal nerve to stop the fits but that had to be later removed. Other patients of the professor have gone on to lead normal lives. Never being able to go out without your mother as carer is terrible for a lad nearly 20." After the operation, Mrs Mountford said: "Philip is in intensive care. He had a good night and is talking this morning which is a good sign."
As 19-year-old Phillip Mountford, of Sneyd Green, continued to make progress today, his mother, Sheila, left Professor Jeffrey Rosenfeld the famous "Doctor" Doulton figure to take back to his Australian home later this weekend. The specialist - who is the only surgeon to perfect the operation to remove the rare tumour - treated three children and Phillip during his week-long stay at the Radcliffe Infirmary neurological centre in Oxford. Philip, whose tumour has caused him 12 to 15 seizures a day since he was a baby, had been referred to Speaking from her son's Oxford hospital bedside, Mrs Mountford said today: "I am so elated with
what "I wanted to thank him in some way but what do you get someone who probably already has everything? We decided on the Doulton figure in the hope that it would be different enough to act as a permanent reminder of the work he did trying to cure a lad from the Potteries. "It cost me more than £100 but if we had had to fly to Melbourne for the treatment like others have done, it would be cost us £30,000 to £40,000. "Phillip is back on the ward after the
six-hour operation and although he is still very confused because of the drugs, I
feel I can tell a change in him already. He hasn't got the
characteristic glare he normally has and the staff say I will be able to tell real
differences in him in the next few months if the treatment has
worked. We The professor's fees and expenses were paid from the Radcliffe's teaching budgets and while Phillip was under the knife, the theatre was packed with doctors watching the specialist at work in the hope they could learn how to do it. Phillip, who is studying music at Stoke-on-Trent College, is expected to return to
the family's Robinson Avenue home in a week's time. HH
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