A fundraiser has been launched to help an Aberdeenshire teen with a life-limiting condition see his grandparents one last time.
Sean Tye suffers from Glycogen storage disease type II, commonly more known as Pompe disease, which causes severe muscle weakness.
For those diagnosed with it in childhood, life expectancy is about 30.
Sean, who relies on a ventilator 24/7 and is fully dependent on his highly-skilled nurses is 15.
Now his dad Sam has launched a GoFundMe page to raise £3,000 to let Sean see his aging grandparents in Malaysia one final time.
Mr Tye, 45, from Balmedie, organised the fundraiser with the help of one of Sean’s nurses.
This trip has been described as “one last time” for them to see Sean, with Mr Tye calling it a “once-in-a-lifetime trip”.
Sean has not seen his grandparents in 10 years.
‘We do not have a lot of time’
IT worker Mr Tye told the Press and Journal: “My parents are 80 something now and they’ve been having a lot of issues.
“They used to be able to travel across about 10 plus years ago but they’re getting too old and are having many old people’s issues, operations and hip replacements and obviously they can’t really travel anymore.”
As well as this, Mr Tye’s parents have both been hospitalised by Covid-19 and he describes them as being “not well”, adding that “we do not have a lot of time”.
Mr Tye is no stranger to fundraising, as in the past he has had to do this to raise money for his son’s equipment.
As well as his ventilator, Sean needs intense chest management and physio, suction and airway clearance multiple times per day just to stay alive.
Any money raised from the GoFundMe page will pay for the additional costs to get Sean’s medical equipment and specially trained nurses to Malaysia with him.
Urging people to donate, Mr Tye said: “Please help us to make this trip possible.”
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