Brave youngster who spent seven months in hospital gives Dear Santa prize to brothers

Eleven-year-old Kieron Gordon, from Finchale Road, Hebburn, suffers from an undiagnosed condition which has left him unable to talk or walk.

He was taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in July last year after taking ill, and underwent a operation to put a feeding tube into his bowel.

The operation led to complications, which resulted in the brave youngster spending seven months in hospital before he was allowed home back in January this year.

Now home, the brave lad faces a struggle each day as he copes with daily medication, a tube in his nose to drain fluid from his stomach, and a feeding tube in his stomach.

But despite his battle, his mum Rachael Perkins, 32, said her brave youngster wanted to enter the Dear Santa competition as a way of thanking his two brothers for their understanding while he was away.

The competition asked youngsters to write a letter to Santa saying why they deserved an extra special present.

For the duration of his stay in hospital, Kieron and his mum were forced to leave Kieron’s brothers Alfie, 10, and Bailey, six, at home with their dad Lee Gordon, 34.

In his letter Kieron said his brothers deserved a reward from Santa for being brave and coping without him and their mum while he was in hospital. The kind-hearted youngster was chosen as the winner of the competition from dozens of youngsters, and now he has said he will give his prize -a £100 Halfords voucher - to his understanding siblings.

The present has been donated by John Savage from Flame Heating Group.

Proud mum Rachael Perkins, 32, is a full time care for her son said: “Last year he went in to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle for an operation to put a feeding tube into his bowel.

“He was only meant to be in there for three days, but there were complications, so he was in there from July 22 to January 13, this year.
“That whole time his brothers were left at home and I was living up there with him.
“We missed the whole six weeks school holidays and Christmas and the boys birthday’s. So the present was a way of Kieron saying thank you to his brothers for being to brave and grown up.”