A mother has spoken of her horror after her seven-year-old son's pins and needles while swimming turned out to be a stroke she feared could have killed him. Evangelynne Williams said she was concerned when Junior Fahr complained of pins and needles and a weakness down his left side while swimming on May 12, 2026.
The concerned mum-of-one rushed him to Worthing Hospital after ChatGPT suggested they were symptoms of a stroke. There, he was assessed and Evangelynne claims perplexed doctors didn't know what it was and told her to bring him back if it happened again.
Six weeks later
The 27-year-old personal training student thought little of it until six weeks later on June 25 when Junior woke up and started vomiting, becoming delirious and unresponsive. Evangelynne rushed Junior back to Worthing Hospital and claims they were put in a room for 'hours' and Junior was simply given anti-sickness tablets for a suspected migraine.
Initially thinking it could be caused by soaring UK temperatures, Evangelynne became worried when he started having seizures and crying out in pain. When Evangelynne called her mum for help, Junior was seen by a senior member of staff and 'within seconds' doctors rushed around him.
Brain stem stroke
Scans revealed Junior had a blocked artery on his brain, which had caused the stroke, and he was blue-lighted to Southampton General Hospital where he was placed in a coma for three weeks. Whilst in Southampton Hospital Junior was treated for a brain stem stroke and underwent a procedure called a mechanical thrombectomy to remove a clot in his brain.
After leaving hospital on August 11, Junior has defied the odds and is already walking and talking again, but Evangelynne says he's suffered brain damage that's resulted in his behaviour regressing to when he was a toddler.
Evangelynne, from Portslade, East Sussex, said: "It was honestly so scary. During swimming he complained his left side went weak and [he had] pins and needles down that side, so we took him to hospital."
"The funny thing is, I put [the symptoms] into ChatGPT and the first thing it came up with was a stroke. They did a couple of little tests with his fingers, didn't do a scan or anything, and then sent us home."
Fundraiser for recovery
Now Junior is home, Evangelynne is focusing on his recovery and has set up a fundraiser to fund a sensory room at the end of the garden and a new wheelchair for him. Evangelynne said: "I didn't in a million years think it was a stroke, I didn't even know children could have strokes. When he was asleep in the ICU in the coma I genuinely thought I was going to wake up and it was a bad dream."
A University Hospitals Sussex spokesperson said: "We extend our sincere apologies to Junior and his family, and fully appreciate how difficult this must have been for them."
"We are investigating Junior’s care so that we can fully understand the circumstances, and try to identify whether there is any learning that could help improve our care in the future."
