Maple Ridge family fundraising for 9-year-old’s medical journey

A family in Maple Ridge is looking for answers as they continue an uphill battle to help their nine-year-old son.

Brenton was born with a diaphragmatic hernia, and he’s received 15 diagnoses throughout his life, resulting in open-heart surgery and being placed in a coma for six months — most recently, he was diagnosed with autism-related epilepsy.

The family says they’ve watched his health decline dramatically over the past four months, with no concrete answers from doctors.

Brenton’s stepmother, Kelsey Knowles, says their once happy, full-of-life child is now unable to do much of anything without having a seizure.

“Our main goal is to get some answers for him and to be able to move forward so he can live a somewhat normal childhood,” said Knowles. “Even if the answers aren’t what we hope to be, at least we know what to expect.”

Knowles says she has had to leave her career to provide around-the-clock care due to his frequent seizures and declining health. Brenton, she says, has up to ten seizures a day.

“We’ve been terrified that we’re going to wake up to a deceased kid. That’s really sad and tragic to say, but that is our reality.”

She says amid countless hospital visits and with specialists— doctors are unsure on how to help him, leaving them feeling hopeless.

“He is in the ambulance quite often. His breathing will go right down, sometimes to the point where we think he’s not breathing,” Knowles explained.

“We just keep continuing to be told he’s a ‘complex case.’”

While the family struggles to support the 9-year-old’s health journey, a GoFundMe page has been set up to help with medical costs.