Rare illness prompts fundraising for surgery

Carson in hospital.

It was something that came out of the blue.

Carson Harvey was just your normal, healthy, very active 17-year-old. Until he wasn’t.

His dad Bruce, who has managed the HeatRite store in Pahiatua for the past 11 years, says Carson, in Year 12 at Palmerston North Boys’ High, experienced a headache when he went to the gym.

“He was only in there for 10, 15 minutes.”

He says Carson hadn’t been doing anything strenuous and sat down for a bit before trying again, but the headache didn’t go away.

Carson, who had been dropped off at the gym by his grandmother, decided to walk home, but once there, he began throwing up.

“He got these massive pains in the back of his head, down his neck into his back. He was just laying on his bed, screaming in pain,” Bruce says.

By the time Bruce got to his Palmerston North home, more than an hour had passed, but while Carson had a phone, he hadn’t called his parents for help.

“He didn’t call me because he didn’t want to disturb me at work.”

His parents decided to call an ambulance and he was taken to Palmerston North Hospital where doctors did a cat scan.

Bruce Harvey is back at work at HeatRite in Pahiatua but he is worried about his son, Carson. Photo / Leanne Warr

Bruce says the doctors appeared alarmed by what they had found and contacted the team of neurologists in Wellington Hospital.

Carson and his parents were life-flighted to Wellington, leaving Palmerston North at 2am, where the team took more scans, including an MRI.

They soon identified the problem as Arteriovenous Malformation, which is understood to be an abnormality in the formation of blood vessels. It’s believed to be present from birth which Bruce says they wouldn’t have known because Carson has been super active his whole life.

“I guess it was just its time to show itself.”

Doctors believe the reason Carson had the headaches was that blood was entering the spinal fluid and travelling down his neck.

Carson will need surgery, but it’s a surgery that isn’t available in New Zealand because it uses what’s called a gamma knife, which is gamma rays that come from multiple directions. It can be done in London and he will need two of these surgeries in three months.

Bruce says the doctors have told him it can’t be done any other way because it’s so deep inside Carson’s brain.

“They can’t operate on it, because as soon as they cut into it, he’s going to be braindead.”

Carson’s illness is life-threatening and at the moment he can’t do anything strenuous or allow his blood pressure to rise at all.

Which means his dad now has to do his chores.

“He’s loving that.”

His doctor, neurosurgeon Reuben Johnson, has said he doesn’t want Carson travelling back and forth between the two surgeries, so it may mean that if they can get the funds, his parents will have to put their lives on hold and stay in London for those three months.

They have started a Givealittle page: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/carson-requires-brain-surgery-in-london-help-us and are hoping to get some help from the health department as well, which the specialist is working on.

Friends are helping as well with raffles and a motorcycle ride from Feilding to Mangatainoka. Kairanga Lions Club is also pitching in.

Meanwhile, Bruce has been talking with many people in Pahiatua about the situation and has had a lot of comments and kindness.

“I love this community, I love Pahiatua. It’s changed a lot in 11 years [and] it’s much nicer now.”

Bruce has nothing but praise for the health system and staff, not only in the ambulance service, and Palmerston North Hospital, but also the Lifeflight team and the team of specialists at Wellington Hospital.

“The experience we’ve had, I couldn’t speak more highly of it. I think we’re very lucky in that, probably because of the seriousness of it as well. We could have easily slipped through the cracks if they thought it was nothing much.”

He also is grateful for Ronald McDonald House, where hospital staff had arranged for him and his wife to stay for the duration of Carson’s time in Wellington Hospital.

“[They’re an] awesome organisation.”

For now, their main priority is Carson and waiting on a date for the surgery.