1. Art and Diseño

28 January 2015.
Gerri Hatton (Mother of Curtis Hatton) Reply To The Current Affair Program 2nd January 2015
To Whom It May Concern,
1/
This is the story of the journey myself and family have been on since my eldest son
Curtis James Robert Hatton had a terrible accident on Monday the 19th July 2013.
2/
I arrived home from work at about 2.30pm. I made myself something to eat and sat
down to watch TV. Curtis was obviously out somewhere with friends. As I watched TV and
relaxed waiting for the boys to return home I received a call from my nephew. It is now about
3.30pm. My nephew is frantic and very upset stating ‘You need to get here now!’ I replied ‘Where
are you?’ He just screams at me ‘You need to get here now; Curtis has had an accident and it bad’.
I am now panicking and screamed at him ‘Cody, where are you?’ He tells me where they are and I
race to the scene.
3/
I arrive to see about 10-people, 2 police and an ambulance already there. My heart is in
my throat as I run to the ambulance. One of the ambulance officers stops me before I get there and
tells me “Your son is in a bad way, and he doesn't look pretty” I answer saying “It’s fine I just
want to see him!" I climb into the ambulance and there is my boy laying on the stretcher with his
face all cut open, he is frothing at the mouth, his eyes are open but he's not responding. He is also
making a low moaning noise.
4/
I ride in the ambulance holding his head still as we drive to the hospital, the ambulance
man was checking him over for other injuries. Curtis is then rushed into the emergency room of
the small wheat-belt town of Merredin's hospital. There are nurses and doctors doing lots of things
to Curt and asking me endless questions. Curt then started fitting and I was asked to leave and go
to the waiting room. I was asked "Is there anyone we can call that can come and sit with you
whilst you wait?" I inform them “My brother is out of town and he is the only family I have here,
but I will call my friend. I will see if he can get my ute and come to the hospital."
5/
I then call my ex-husband and inform him that there has been an accident but not to
worry they are just doing test and I will let him know as soon as I do. I tried to play it down as he
lives in Perth a 256 km drive away. I phone my mate and he agrees to go get my ute and come to
the hospital. When he arrives I take him into the emergency room to see Curt, but he couldn't
handle it (Beany is a bikie looking fella covered in tatts). The police are now hounding me to get a
sample of Curtis' blood to ensure he was not under the influence of alcohol. I tell the police "You
won't find alcohol in his blood, as he doesn't drink, but knock ya'selves out take all the blood you
want." The doctor then comes and finds me and states "Things don't look great for your son, as he
was not wearing a helmet we are concerned that he may have bleeding on the brain. He has also
sustained a collapsed lung, possible broken ribs and suspected broken right leg along with other
cuts and bruises. We are going to call the Royal Flying Doctors Service and he will be flown to
Royal Perth Hospital." At this time I knew it was serious and I proceed to call Curt's dad Steve
again and give him the update and inform him that we may lose our eldest son. Curt was flown to
Jandakot and then transported to hospital by ambulance. Steve would meet them at the hospital.
6/
As Curtis was taken to the airstrip in Merredin Beany drove me home. I cried and cried
all night as I could not get to Perth to be with Curt as my ute wouldn't have been able to make it
that far, I would catch the train down in the morning. Let me just say this was the longest night of
my life not knowing if I would ever see my son alive again.
7/
At roughly about 9pm that night I received a call from one of the doctors who flew to
Perth with Curt. He told me "They have Curtis in the Intensive Care Unit at Royal Perth Hospital.
Curtis has sustained 5 major bleeds on the brain and a lot of defusing, a collapsed lung and a huge
laceration on his right knee; he has also fractured his C2 and T4 vertebra in his back. Curtis is in a
critical but stable condition at the time being, we just have to wait and see if his brain swells, if
this happens we may need to cut out some of his skull to relieve the pressure." I was absolutely
shocked, all I could say is "will he be ok?" The only question that could not be answered.
8/
I finely cry myself to sleep only to wake early and start over thinking the whole
situation. This continued for the rest of the day, during the 3 hour train ride to Perth all I could
think was "Will he survive this and if he does in what state would he be left in?" On that day I left
my dog with a friend over the road to look after while I was away, I locked my front door and
drove to the train station. Little did I know my dog would still be with that friend 18 months later
and I would never return to my house again. We had only been there for 8 weeks. My life and my
whole families lives had changed FOREVER.
9/
On my arrival to the hospital I am met by Steve, we cry and hug as he leads me up to the
ICU. Once inside we go straight to Curt, I again burst into tears. He has leads, tubes and
machines attached all over him, the machines are beeping and there are alarms going off all around
him. Curtis just looks like he's asleep; his face has been all cleaned and stitched up. We are then
escorted to a small room by the surgeon rostered on for that week. I am so so scared of what he is
going to tell us. He gives me all the same information I already had, I ask "Is he going to be ok?"
to only get the reply I would come to hate over the next weeks and months "We don't know, we
just have to wait and see." And with that we went back to our son’s bedside. Curtis had a nasal
gastric tube inserted and a tracheostomy put into his throat. Curtis has a fairly uneventful stay in
ICU, though he did spike a temperature of over 40 that they did nothing about for at least 9 hours
before putting him in a cooling suit. His brain did not swell; he did not need to have his skull
removed.
10/
Three weeks in ICU and Curt was out of his coma and ready to move to the
Neurosurgical ward 5H. This was to be our home for the next 8 months. Curtis continues to spike
temperatures up to 39.9; this is put down to what is called 'storming'. Curtis' aunty Julie and I
started to search TBI on YouTube; we came across a video of a guy called Curt Allen Jnr. We
watched this video and were amazed at what we were seeing, this boy seemed to be worse off than
our Curt and yet he is eating, talking and even walking. He had had HBOT under the supervision
of a Dr Harch. That was it!!! We were taking Curtis to America!! There was no way known that
our boy wasn't going to get better like Curt Allen. We started asking the medical staff what was
their impression of Oxygen treatment? We were told on more than one occasion that it was an
unproven treatment, and they highly doubt it would have any effect on the recovery of Curtis'
brain damage.
11/
A couple of weeks into his stay on 5H Julie and myself enter his room, as we did every
day. Only to see a doctor preforming a spinal tap on Curt, we were asked "to please wait outside
and the doctor would come and explain as soon as he is done". Julie and I had no idea of why they
were doing this to Curtis; did he have meningitis or what??? We are waiting in the corridor when
the doctor comes out and tells us "We are just checking for meningitis and any other bugs that may
be causing the temperatures Curtis is having." We understand that they need to do all the tests
required to ensure Curtis is receiving the best care. The doctor then continues to inform us (still in
the hallway) "You do realise that your son is NEVER going to recover from this, you will NEVER
take him home and he will NEVER leave this ward, he will NEVER breathe without the trachy,
you may as well put him in a nursing home!!" It was like I had been punched in the gut with a
sledge hammer, I instantly burst into tears and the doctor just walks away. Both Julie and I are
absolutely shattered, but it gives us the drive to prove this surgeon wrong. We return back to Curt
once we have calmed ourselves, I can't even look at him without sobbing. I sit at the foot of the
bed as we try not to let Curt see us cry. He was looking for me. I go to his side, tears streaming
down my face, I tell him "its ok buddy you're doing great, mum's just having a bad day." He won't
take his eyes off me; he knows there is something wrong. Shortly after that Julie and I return
home, broken hearted and deflated.
12/
Curtis continues to work hard, even though not many of the staff have the faith that we
do. He is tracking us with his eyes as we move around the room, when asked "Where is Aunty
Julie?" He would look straight at her. But in typical teenage form when we asked him to do this
when any of the nurses or doctors were around he would just stare off into space (cheeky little
monkey). This is when we truly knew that Curt was in there and we had to go to the ends of the
earth to get him back. We are continuously told by the doctors that the likely hood of Curtis
making any form of recovery was very slight; it would be likely that he would stay in the vegative
state for the rest of his life.
13/
I decided to return to work a couple of days a week to put some normality back into my
life, and give me somewhere other than the hospital to go. One day in late October I get a call
from Julie, she was so excited. Julie almost screams to me "We don't have to go to America, there
is a place right here in Melbourne. I have already called and spoken to the man that runs it and he
wants us to get Curt over there ASAP." That was the best news I had had in months, it was
official... we were going to get our boy back, maybe not the 100% he was before the accident but
he would be back in some form better than he was in at the minute.
14/
Early November Curtis gets his trachy out. This is huge because it means we can start
looking at getting him over to Melbourne. We start brain storming for ideas to raise the funds, as
we were going to need in excess of $20,000.00 for the treatment and accommodation. Mal Hooper
books us in for the sixth of January 2014. We have a meeting with the hospital to see what the next
steps would be for Curtis' care, as he no longer has a trachy he does not need to be on the high
dependency ward. As Curtis had been rejected from the leading rehab facility here in Perth, we
would have to put him in the nursing home. We straight away said "No way is he going to be put
in an old people home to just rot away to nothing!" We told the hospital of our plans to take him
to Melbourne, they continued to inform us that he could not stay on the ward, or even in the
hospital until we left for Melbourne. It was about six weeks til we would leave. They also told us
'If you refuse to put Curtis in this home then you would have to take him home and care for him
your selves. You will get no assistance from the hospital or the government; you would be totally
on your own." We leave that meeting with our heads spinning and our hearts once again shattered.
15/
We decide that we would take our story to the news, let the world know that we had
been rejected from Shenton Park and now the hospital was trying to kick us out too. We also
made up a support page on facebook where people could follow our story and watch the journey
Curtis was about to embark on. The donations start rolling in; we are all amazed at how generous
total strangers could be.
16/
On the ninth of December 2013 Steve and myself are having a coffee before we go to
see Curt. I receive a call from the Acting head nurse, this is how the conversation begins "Hi Gerri
it's ----- from 5H, not wanting to panic you but we had some complications with Curtis during the
night. We had to make a metcall last night, thats when we have to call the emergency doctors as
its the weekend."
My head is spinning, what could have happened? Curt was a little bit off yesterday but he was
fine. She continues “Curtis was finding it hard to breathe during the night, his temp spiked and his
heart rate went through the roof. We have put him on a humidifier machine to help him breathe,
but you need to come in as soon as possible." I ask "Is he ok?" She replies "Yes he's fine nothing
to panic about but can you come in?" Of course we rush straight to the hospital, not panicking to
much as we had been told not to, and we now know all the nurses really well and they would tell
us if there was something majorly wrong. As we park I get another call asking how far away we
were? I said "We have just parked we will be there in five minutes." As we continue walking I
think to myself that it was strange that she had called again.
17/
We get buzzed into the ward through the locked double doors. Straight away we both
knew there was something terribly wrong with Curt. Every nurse and ward staff were waiting at
the nurses station for us to arrive. The nurse who had called comes to us and ushers us into the
room where we have our meetings. My heart is in my throat and I feel sick to my stomach. The
nurse informs us that during the night Curt's temp and heart rate had spiked, he was finding it hard
to breathe. X-rays show that he had aspirated and he had pneumonia, he is not in a good way. We
go to see Curtis, he was laying there with the humidifier on his face and he looked like death
warmed up. The doctor comes in to inform us that Curtis' whole left lung was full of fluid and
they needed to get drains in ASAP or he could die. Curtis was taken back to ICU where they put
him back into an induced coma. They told us that for his own wellbeing while he was in the coma
that they would have to put the trachy back in. We agreed whatever they had to do to keep our
boy alive. Curtis spent nine days in the coma and three weeks in ICU. This put our plans for
treatment on hold.
18/
Once back on the ward Curtis' health is up and down, but our biggest hurdle is getting
that bloody trachy out again. It is now early February. The speech pathologist could not give us a
time frame as to when it could possibly come out again. As Curtis' wellbeing was our main
concern we didn't push the matter. We got to thinking of how we could get around this hurdle; I
asked the speechie "Would it be possible for us to take Curt while he still has the trachy in?" She
says "It's not very common that a person goes out into the community with a trachy, it’s not
impossible but I will have to check with my supervisor." I get a call at the end of the day saying
that yes we could discharge Curt with the trachy as long as Steve and myself underwent training to
be competent in caring for Curt in the community. YAY!!! Plans were back on track. I look at the
calendar and pick a random date Friday the 28th of March 2014, Julie rings Mal at HyperMed and
we are booked in for Monday the 31st of March to start treatment.
19/
Steve and I underwent our training, it involved everything from suctioning his trachy,
showering him, rolling him, transferring him from bed to chair and vice versa all the way to how
to change his bum. We both had to do a 24 hour stay to observe the nurses in the caring for him,
even though we had watched it every day for the last 6-7 months. At the end of our training we
had to do another 24 hour stay where we cared for Curtis under the observation of the nurses. We
received a certificate to say we had completed our training and the hospital was confident that we
were competent in providing care to our son. Although some of the staff did not believe we
understood how hard it would be on us to look after him fulltime on our own, we still went ahead
with our plans. We knew in our heart of hearts that it was going to be hard but the rewards we
would get would be totally worth it in the end.
20/
We went about organising everything we would need to care for Curt, the hospital
supplied us with most of the medical equipment that we would require, from suction catheters to
gloves, to shower chair and hoist. We had to purchase a bed and a suction machine. It took us
days to cart it all home and to pack; we had three months of supplies, as we thought we would be
away for that amount of time. Our two younger sons were going to stay with Julie whilst we were
away. I had been living there with our youngest son since Curt had his accident. Steve moved in
with our middle son when he sold his business and all his possessions to raise funds for our
adventures.
21/
At 4 am on the 28th of March 2013 Steve and I head off to the hospital to go and get
Curt dressed and ready. We had to be at the airport for 9:30 am to fly out at 10:30 am, we carried
all things we thought might be needed during the flight, all the rest of our luggage went to the
airport with the rest of the family in three other cars, yes three cars, we had so much stuff. It was
one of the most exciting days in our lives but also one of the saddest as we left the security of the
hospital; we had also made good friends with many of the staff. After dressing Curt and saying
our many goodbyes and after shedding many a tear, we were on our way. Curtis thrashed about
for the entire flight. Flinging his head back and forth was the only form of communication we had
with him and to tell us he was not happy. We arrive in Melbourne at 5:30 pm; it was a further
hour through peak hour traffic to get to South Yarra and the apartments that we had booked. Once
at the apartments we had to set everything up, Curt had had nothing in his stomach since mid-night
the previous night, he had been in his chair since 8 am that morning and he had only done a couple
of hours sitting at any one time.
22/
Let the treatment begin!!!
The next morning we are up dressed and head next door to meet Mr Mal Hooper, he was very
welcoming and we felt at ease straight away. He told us more about how this treatment works to
help with the recovery of TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury). Before we knew it we were putting Curt
in a chamber, what a fun time we had with that :) as Curt has no trunk or head control he kept
slumping to the side and the oxygen nose prongs would not stay in his nose, as his head thrashing
would dislodge them. In the end we perfected all these obstacles, by about 20 hours down Steve
and I had our transfers and getting Curtis all set up down to a fine art. Curt hated being in the
chamber and it broke our hearts to have to look at him through the window as he looked back
thrashing his head and giving us his puppy dog eyes.
23/
After 20 hours Curt started to show some relaxation in his arms, (the spasticity) we were
able to move them more freely. After 30hours I noticed one night that he was grinding his teeth,
this was something he did really bad before the accident. It was only little thing like that up until
we hit 50 hours, then one night Steve was watching T.V. when Curtis raised his right arm up
above his head, this was huge!! The more hours he had the more movement we noticed, his eyes
got so clear and bright and they were really blue again. When in the chamber he would sweat
profusely, to the point there was literally puddles in the bottom of the chamber when he got out.
We would have to towel dry him and change his shirt as soon as he got out, even before he went
back into his chair. Mal explained to us that this was all the germs that had accumulated in his
body over the 8 months whilst he was in hospital. The more hours he did the healthier he became,
we didn’t have to suction him as often as we had been. The only hiccup we had was when Curtis
got a mucus plug in his trachy and we had to take him to hospital.
24/
Eight weeks down and Curtis had almost finished his 100 hours. I was thinking to
myself "When is he going to talk?" I was a little eager. We departed Melbourne on the 15th of
May 2014, it was another torturous flight, with Curtis deciding that his time not only would he
thrash the whole way, but he would also vomit just to make it more interesting. Steve and I were
absolutely knackered by the time we got home, we were tired and sick of each other’s company,
after all we had been divorced for 10 years for a reason.
25/
The first week we were home Curt's best friend came to see him; she was also there at
the accident. Curtis smiled at Jaymi; this was the first of the many big milestones we would see in
the coming months. We got hold of one of the best private neuro physio's in the state Ruth
Anderson, Ruth was recommended to us from the physio at 5H. It would cost us $150 an hour for
Ruth to come and have sessions with Curt in our home. Steve paid for the first ten sessions out of
his own pension until we got funding from a charity that covered three months of sessions. Ruth,
like Mal gave us confidence that people with TBI can recover, it may take hard work and time but
it does happen. Curtis instantly liked Ruth, we could tell because he wouldn't take his eyes off her.
If he liked you he would just stare, it was a bit creepy :)
26/
By Curtis' 17th birthday (almost one month after HBOT) Ruth had Curt rolling
(assisted) on the floor from side to side. He could extend his arms, not fully but slightly. On the
night of his birthday his cousin rang from Port Hedland where he was working away. It was a
video call so Curt could see Jayden, Curt had this special valve on his trachy and he used to quack.
Curt quacked; we all lost it laughing, even Curt!! That was the next biggest sign that he was
getting better. He used to cry whenever I would get close to him or give him a kiss; Ruth
recommended we put him on anti-depressants. Ruth explained that even though he may be
looking upset with me that she feels it’s the only emotion he can get out.
27/
July 2014 Curtis has a major chest infection and we find out he has a 'super bug'
pseudomonas, it is a hospital bug resistant to most anti-biotic. He slowly gets better even though
the bug is still to this day in his body. We bring him home. Curtis is now laughing and smiling all
the time, it’s awesome. He is also getting control over the head thrashing.
28/
We ask Curt if he can move his head once for yes and twice for no, he does it... we can
now communicate with our boy!!! He just comes along in leaps and bounds from here on in. He
can use his left arm to point and pick things up, it is just amazing. Curtis is now attending Rocky
Bay; it is like a school for people with disabilities. He is now getting physio from Ruth three times
a week, and also at rocky bay, we have started acupuncture twice a week and have started him on
fruit and vegetable juices via his PEG tube. He soon begins to take foods like yoghurt orally, and
can handle his trachy being capped for extended periods of time. By November 2014 Curtis can
wink, nod yes with his head, point to where he is sore, and he has got himself back on Facebook as
he remembered his password (14-15 months post-accident). He even said "MUM" not very clear
but you could tell what it was meant to be.
29/
We were so excited to see the changes that the oxygen treatment had worked for Cutis
that we decided we needed to tell the world of this wonderful treatment. We knew that there had
been controversy surrounding Mal and his treatment, at no time did Mal try to deceive us as to the
trouble he had been dealing with over the last few years.
We get a hold of A Current Affair on channel 10; the main reporter seemed keen to do the story
and to assist us in telling the world of this amazing treatment and the progress Curtis has made
over the previous months. We send her photos of Curt before the accident, his time in hospital and
videos of the remarkable changes that had happened since we returned from HBOT. The reporter
convinced us to get Mal to do an interview with her as she was based in Melbourne, Mal was not
keen for this as he didnt want the controversy to steal the light away from our story.
For Curtis, Mal agreed to the interview. The camera and sound men from the Perth studio come
out and we are filmed and interviewed for four hours about the progress of our son. We were so
thrilled that we could help Mal to shine a good light on HBOT, rather than all the negative
coverage it had received. We were informed of when the story would air, so we posted it on
Curtis support page for everyone to watch the amazing things Curt could now do.
30/
Julie, myself her husband and our youngest son sit down to watch our story. The
headline comes on to the screen 'Health warning!!!" We both look at each other and say "This
can't be our story." The reporter then proceeds to inform the world of how a de-registered Dr was
still administering treatment to vulnerable clients. The ambush went on for the next five or so
minutes.
We were horrified!!!
How could she turn our happy ending into this tear down of a man who had gone out of his way to
help get our son better? We felt terrible for Mal; we hoped he didn’t think we had done this on
purpose. This is a man who on the day of his mother’s funeral came into the clinic to allow the
other out of state patients get hyperbaric treatment!! He also did the same on Good Friday and
Easter Monday.
The current affair reporter was trying to make Mal look like he was out to steal innocent people’s
money, this was not the man who we had spent countless of hours with. The normal rate Mal
charges for hyperbaric is $150 per hour for patients with serious conditions. Mal further subsidised
us at $100 per hour.
Out of our four hours of filming we aired for about 30 seconds, we were devastated!
31/
Not only were we informed on countless occasions by the doctors at RPH and Shenton
Park Rehab that the treatment would not help in the recovery of Curtis and that he would never be
anything more than a vegetable. We now had contributed to the ambushing of the only man that
gave us the only bit of light in the dark tunnel of what would be our lives. We really need the
world to know how beneficial this treatment is and how people’s lives could be changed for the
better if it could get the recognition it needs. The doctors and the government need to pull their
heads out of their bums and see this treatment for what it really is!! They say that there is NO
evidence!!! Well they are wrong, we have the evidence needed right here in front of us with the
progress that our son has made.
32/
In December 2014 we have an appointment with the main specialist doctor of Shenton
Park rehab, the same doctor that rejected him 12 months prior.
She is absolutely amazed by how far Curtis has come since having HBOT, she didnt believe he
would ever get better.
33/
In January 2015 we get accepted to the rehab facility, the first day there his trachy
comes out. It has been out for three weeks now and Curtis is showing no signs of aspiration, Curtis
has a communication device which he types in what he wants to say and it speaks for him, his
wheel chair has been updated so now he likes to sit for longer. They have started serial casting of
his left arm to fully extend the muscles. He has been sized up to be fitted with proper foot splints
to assist with the foot flop he suffers. Curtis is back with us, he tells us jokes and he laughs at silly
things. There are something’s that he doesn't remember, but in the scale of what he has been
through that is nothing.
34/
Our whole family believe that had we NOT taken Curt for HBOT he would not be
where he is today. The treatment healed the smaller bruising in his brain allowing new pathways
to be formed around the 'dead' areas. I would highly recommend that anyone who has been told
"This is all you will have." needs to go and have HBOT. Yes, it cost a lot of money. Yes, it is not
proven to work here in Australia. No, it does not work for 'all' ailments. But hey, if where you are
or a loved one is at is 'the best it’s going to get' then what do you have to lose? We were told by
several specialists that Curt was going to be a vegetable!!! Had we listened he would be sitting
a nursing home fading away to nothing or worse, but we gave it a go... and it worked!!!!
35/
Thank you Mal for all the hours you have put in trying to heal people, for having faith in
the unknown, and for standing strong in what you know and believe to be the truth. From all of
us Hatton's we will be eternally grateful that you helped us get our son back, you kept us focused
when we stumbled along the path that has led us to where we are today.
Yours Sincerely
Gerri Hatton
0423 343 393