Jake died suddenly but peacefully in his sleep from an undiagnosed cerebellar pilocytic astrocytoma just 3 weeks after his 2nd birthday.
Jake lived in Manchester with his parents, Carly & David, and his baby brother, Charlie, who was just 14 weeks old at the time. Jake was a wonderful little boy, a pleasure to be around and always happy and smiling.
Jake had been displaying various symptoms for about 3 months prior to his death and had been given thorough checks by GPs both at the local doctors surgery and at Booth Hill Children’s Hospital. The main symptoms we noticed were stumbling and falling over quite frequently and a head tilt. He also seemed to have some difficulty swallowing occasionally. Jake was not in any pain or if he was he never complained.
A verdict of natural causes was recorded at Jake’s inquest. They said that the tennis ball sized tumour had bled which had caused massive pressure and irreparable damage and Jake had simply stopped breathing. They said there was nothing anyone could have done.
Jake is terribly missed by his family and everyone who knew him. He loved Thomas The Tank Engine and In The night Garden. He was a wonderful son and big brother. His loss is indescribable.
Fundraising
David, Jake’s daddy, orgainsed a charity Fun Run/Walk in August 2009 in Jake’s memory. Approximately £5,000.00 each was raised for Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust and The New Children’s Hospital Appeal.
On 30 September 2010, David Kershaw and a fantastic group of people are doing a skydive in memory of Jake. The fantastic team will do a 12,000ft free fall tandem skydive, with David going that little bit further for his boy and doing it SOLO! Please give as much as you can as every penny counts:
CLICK HERE TO SPONSOR DAVID AND THE TEAM
Jake’s Red Balloon Ball is planned for 10 September 2010 at 7pm at the Manchester United FC ground in Old Trafford. The occasion will have a black tie dress code and will include dinner, auctions and raffles. Click here to download a poster for the event. Tickets cost £50 per person and are available NOW, so please contact David on 07846 832414 to book.
We are extremely grateful to Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust for their help and support. The work that they do is invaluable and hopefully through our fundraising we can help them to find out more about the causes and early diagnosis of brain tumours.
For more information about Jake, please visit www.jakekershaw.co.uk
Thank you
Carly, David & Charlie
Jake and his brother, Charlie