Brave Bertie suffers a brain haemorrhage

Two-year-old Bertie Miller-Grossett flew to the USA earlier this month to start an intensive six-week course of proton beam therapy, following a major operation to remove a brain tumour in November.

But the Warkworth tot has endured a tough fortnight after encountering unexpected medical problems; first taking ill on the flight over to the States and then, having made a recovery, becoming extremely unwell last weekend.

On Sunday evening, on the specially-created Bertie the Brave Facebook page, his ‘simply devastated’ parents – Claire and Gemma – posted that their son had been vomiting and holding his head. He was rushed to hospital and a CT scan revealed a bleed on the brain and raised pressure in his head. Neurosurgeons fitted a drain to release the pressure.

On Tuesday, his parents updated the situation, saying: ‘Bertie is having a sleepy day following two days of intubation (being asleep with tube in) after his brain haemorrhage.

‘He’s had various scans and they can’t find the cause of his bleed. He’s a mystery to the neurosurgeons. They have ruled out all serious causes of bleeding which is good, but a little scary not to know why it happened. He’ll be in intensive care for about a week. The blood and fluid is still being released through the drain.’

He was due to start proton beam therapy today, but that has been put on hold.