The stepfather of a boy left brain-damaged after an accident dreams of walking him to the pub on his 18th birthday – having survived coming off life support.
Jack Dolan, 15, was knocked unconscious after performing a flip into the water off Margate’s Stone Pier on 23 June, with doctors not expecting him to make a recovery.
MRI scans showed there was no brain activity after he was rescued from the water, and his life support was switched off on 3 July.
But Jack continues to make slight progress and his family retains hope even if his future remains unclear.
“Every day there is progression, only the smallest things, it’s a long, long road, we are well prepared for that,” his stepfather Dave Dolan, 35, told Sky News.
“He will turn 18 in just over two years, I’m dreaming of him walking to the pub with me on his birthday.”
After Jack’s life support was switched off, he was moved into palliative care and a fundraising page was set up initially to support the family with final treatments and funeral costs.
He cannot swallow or speak and is in a minimally conscious state, but he’s sticking with physiotherapy while his family tries to secure special – but costly – oxygen treatment.
His latest brain scans showed huge improvement, Mr Dolan said, with funds now going towards Jack’s recovery.
Signs of recovery
“We are soldiering on, we’ve been dealt a hand that we’ve got to make the best of,” Mr Dolan said, taking heart from Jack’s tiny signs of recovery.
“If you hadn’t seen him before you wouldn’t notice, but when you’re there you see little new things every day.
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“He can kiss now… he will probably move his arms before he speaks – that will be the last thing. That takes a lot of brain power and he’s not near that yet.”
Jack has managed to say one word – “help” – when he looked his mum Lisa in the eye and grabbed her hand, which Mr Dolan said would have been out of “desperation”.
On Tuesday, Jack watched his favourite film in hospital, where he’s expected to stay until 3 September, as Mr Dolan cherished his slow progress since the “surreal” moment he was told Jack was underwater.
“I genuinely didn’t believe it even when they said he’s underwater, I thought ‘oh he’s messing about’,” he added.
“I just didn’t believe it… even when he was being airlifted, I thought he’ll be OK and I’ll give him a bollocking for messing about.”
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‘I just want him to smile at me’
Mr Dolan said he couldn’t deal with the thought of Jack dying – and now only wants to see him smile.
“I’ve accepted he will be different, but as long as he can smile at me I don’t care, as long as I can make him happy that’s all that matters,” he said.
Jack’s two younger sisters, Grace aged nine and 10-year-old Faith, look forward to reading to him and “cuddling him”, Mr Dolan added.
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Mr Dolan said extensive work is ongoing at their house in Kent, where they’re installing a ramp, widening the doors, fitting new drainage and changing the flooring to accommodate Jack once he’s out of hospital.
It’s about six months’ worth of work squeezed into three weeks, Mr Dolan, a builder, said.
Fundraising support
It makes contributions to their fundraising page all the more important, with nearly £40,000 raised so far and fun days organised by friends in two weeks and on Bank Holiday Monday this month.
The family is trying to raise £8,000 for hyperbaric oxygen therapy – which involves breathing in pure oxygen – and £38,000 for an oxygen chamber at home.
“It’s amazing,” Mr Dolan said of the fundraiser. “Not just for fundraising, but the fact so many people care for him.
“When he is better, it will put so much fight in him because he very much likes to make people proud.”
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He said Jack is the “funniest kid you’ll ever meet” with quick wit and “so much energy”.
“He will bounce about from 7am until 11pm,” he added, describing him as his “best mate” and “shadow”.
“He’s a little bit wild… he was just a laugh, a happy, happy kid – which is why him being able to smile is so important to me.”
