A “HEALTHY” dad has been left unable to walk and can only blink or squeeze a hand to communicate after taking a football to the head.
Kerem Akalin, 47, from Chadwell Heath, Romford, was a fit and fun-loving man when a football hit his head during a game with a work colleague in May 2023.
11
11
11
The impact to his head is thought to have “triggered a brain aneurysm”, according to his wife, Yasemin, 41.
The father-of-two, who worked in IT for a wholesaler, was rushed to Queen’s Hospital in Romford where CT scans revealed the aneurysm.
But after a major operation, Kerem was diagnosed with a subarachnoid haemorrhage, an extremely serious condition where bleeding caused by a ruptured aneurysm results in extensive brain damage.
Yasemin claims there were issues with his care at the hospital, such as a staple being left in his head during an operation, an “incorrectly” placed shunt and repeated infections.
A spokesperson for the NHS Trust covering the hospital responded by saying they were “truly sorry for the distress caused”.
Yasemin, who has since given up work in customer service and administration, has been left to support the couple’s two children.
She is now seeking alternative treatment options in Istanbul – which she feels would be the best option for her husband – raising over £20,000 on her GoFundMe page so far to help with the costs.
“Kerem loved to live life slowly and he always said ‘life is too short to rush things’,” Yasemin said.
“He was a very healthy man, he ate healthy things, he would check his calories, he exercised.
“Now, he can’t talk, he can’t eat, he can’t walk and his consciousness comes in small, short periods but you don’t know when.
“He responds by blinking or the way he looks.”
Yasemin said her husband was playing football with a work colleague on May 18, 2023, when a bad hit him on the head.
“When he came home, he began vomiting and he had headaches,” she said.
Yasemin said she took Kerem to A&E at Queen’s Hospital in Romford, where a CT scan revealed he had suffered from a brain aneurysm.
We were having breakfast with the kids when all of a sudden, he couldn’t move his fork up to his mouth. His talking went slow, he vomited, collapsed and lost consciousness – it was like he switched off
Yasemin Akalin
“The ball triggered the aneurysm and until that moment, we didn’t know anything was wrong with him,” Yasemin said.
Kerem was rushed for an emergency operation the same day where clips were placed in his head to support a tube to prevent fluid gathering on his brain, Yasemin said.
He was discharged from hospital on May 31 and Yasemin said “everything seemed fine” but just a day later on June 1, Kerem suddenly displayed concerning issues with his movement and speech.
“We were having breakfast with the kids when all of a sudden, he couldn’t move his fork up to his mouth,” she said.
11
11
11
“His talking went slow, he vomited, collapsed and lost consciousness – it was like he switched off.”
Yasemin said Kerem was blue-lighted to hospital, where it was found one of the clips in his brain had “moved”.
He was then diagnosed with a subarachnoid haemorrhage, an extremely serious condition which refers to extensive brain damage and symptoms because of bleeding caused by a ruptured aneurysm, according to the NHS.
“I was asking how this could happen but I wasn’t given a reason,” Yasemin said.
‘Something was wrong’
Kerem then had two operations, she said, one on July 3 in which the skull was removed from the right side of his head to give his brain space and relief, and another at the end of August to implant a shunt, a thin tube allowing excess fluid to flow from the brain into another part of the body, according to the NHS.
He was transferred to a rehabilitation centre in Harrow in October 2023 to receive physical therapy, before being moved on to a care home in Harlow in January 2024.
During this time, Yasemin said she became concerned and felt Kerem had “pressure in his head” by the way he appeared.
“I was told everything was fine but you could tell something was wrong,” she said.
In June this year, she said Kerem was taken back to Queen’s Hospital with an infection in his brain where it was found the shunt was not working correctly, causing fluid to build on his brain.
Kerem will blink, when I tell him to he will squeeze my hand, he will cry and get emotional, he will follow things with his eyes, he’s there
Yasemin Akalin
“I was frustrated because I had been telling them this for months and months,” she said.
Yasemin said doctors decided to remove the shunt for a few weeks and an operation to replace it was scheduled for July 2024.
However, Yasemin said the surgery could not go ahead because a staple had been left behind in Kerem’s brain after a previous operation.
“They saw that he had a staple from his previous operation and this got infected,” Yasemin said, adding it was later removed.
“They said sorry and they treated him with antibiotics.”
11
11
11
Fighting for Kerem’s future
After the infection cleared, Kerem had the operation to replace the shunt on July 20 and he was transferred back to the care home in Harlow.
Yasemin said he remains in a largely unresponsive state due to the brain damage from the haemorrhage, he is “not alert” and “can’t function himself”.
She is now hoping to raise enough money to take Kerem to Istanbul via a medical flight to receive treatment from a doctor she has found.
They have suggested Kerem needs an operation to replace the part of his skull which was removed, receive alternative medication and undertake a specialist robotic rehabilitation program.
“I looked for something similar in the UK but I couldn’t find much from my research, this is the best treatment I could find,” she explained.
What is a brain aneurysm and what are the warning signs?
An aneurysm is a bulge in a blood vessel caused by a weakness in the blood vessel wall.
As blood passes through the weakened blood vessel, the blood pressure causes a small area to bulge outwards like a balloon.
Aneurysms can develop in any blood vessel in the body, but the two most common places are:
- The artery that transports blood away from the heart to the rest of the body (the abdominal aorta)
- The brain
Most brain aneurysms only cause noticeable symptoms if they burst.
This leads to an extremely serious condition known as a subarachnoid haemorrhage, where bleeding caused by the ruptured aneurysm can cause extensive brain damage and symptoms.
Symptoms of an unruptured brain aneurysm can include:
- Visual disturbances, such as loss of vision or double vision
- Pain above or around your eye
- Numbness or weakness on one side of your face
- Difficulty speaking
- Headaches
- Loss of balance
- Difficulty concentrating or problems with short-term memory
You should see a GP as soon as possible if you experience symptoms of an unruptured brain aneurysm.
Symptoms of a ruptured brain aneurysm – which is a medical emergency – usually begin with a sudden agonising headache.
It’s been likened to being hit on the head, resulting in a blinding pain unlike anything experienced before.
Other symptoms of a ruptured brain aneurysm also tend to come on suddenly and may include:
- Feeling or being sick
- A stiff neck or neck pain
- Sensitivity to light
- Blurred or double vision
- Sudden confusion
- Loss of consciousness
- Fits (seizures)
- Weakness on one side of the body or in any limbs
Call 999 immediately and ask for an ambulance if someone’s experiencing symptoms of a ruptured brain aneurysm.
Source: NHS
Yasemin has launched a GoFundMe page, which has raised over £20,000, to help pay for the care he would receive but she added it is unclear what level of treatment he will need until they arrive.
“Kerem will blink, when I tell him to he will squeeze my hand, he will cry and get emotional, he will follow things with his eyes, he’s there,” she said.
“I want to go for it, I want to try it, I don’t want to have any regret in the future that we didn’t try.
“I love him, I love him so much.”
Yasemin said she has complained to Queen’s Hospital on several occasions and has received their apologies.
A spokesperson for Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust said: “We understand this is a hugely difficult time for the family and we’re truly sorry for the distress caused.”
You can find out find out more by visiting Yasemin’s GoFundMe page here.
11
11
