For the love of Bryony (From York Press)

For the love of Bryony

11:00am Saturday 11th October 2008 in Search By Haydn Lewis, haydn.lewis@thepress.co.uk

SHE lived life to the full and even in death her spirit continues.

For 11-year-old Bryony Aveyard has helped four others to live after her own vibrant life was cut short by a rare condition which caused her to suffer a brain haemorrhage.

Her grieving parents Rob and Katherine Aveyard, of Woodside Avenue, Burnholme, in York, are struggling to come to terms with the tragic loss of their daughter.

But in the midst of their grief, they gave consent for her organs to be donated. Thanks to Bryony and her parents, four women have had life-saving operations.

“We know that Bryony would have wanted her organs to be donated. She was a very giving type of girl. It really wasn’t a difficult decision and we would have liked to think that if Bryony needed something like this, then it would have been available,” said Rob.

Katherine said Bryony was an extremely fit girl who was hardly ever ill and she had gone to bed feeling fine after playing a basketball match for the York Vikings the day before she was struck down.

‘We know that Bryony would have wanted her organs donated. It wasn’t a difficult decision. She was a very giving type of girl’

Rob Aveyard

HER life may have been short, but 11-year-old Bryony Aveyard has brought life to others after her death.

Rob and Katherine Aveyard, of Woodside Avenue, Burnholme, in York, are struggling to come to terms with the loss on Tuesday of their daughter, Bryony, from a sudden brain haemorrhage.

But they believe she would have wanted them to donate her organs which have gone on to benefit four other women who have had life-saving operations.

“We know that Bryony would have wanted her organs to be donated. She was a very giving type of girl. It really wasn’t a difficult decision and we would have liked to think that if Bryony needed something like this, then it would have been available,” said Rob.

Byrony, who loved basketball, had just started her secondary school career at Archbishop Holgate’s CE School in York and was four weeks into the term when in the early hours of September 29, she woke her parents up complaining of a headache.

Katherine said that Bryony was an extremely fit girl who was hardly ever ill and she had gone to bed feeling fine after playing a basketball match the day before.

At first Rob and Katherine thought Bryony might have meningitis because she was running a temperature and complained that her neck was aching. They rang their doctor’s out-of-hours number, and awaited a return call, but in a few minutes Bryony was complaining of losing sensation in her arms and legs. The doctor phoned back and told them to go to casualty.

They drove straight to York Hospital, but as Rob carried Bryony to the doors in his arms, she stopped breathing.

Bryony was placed on a ventilator and given a brain scan, and doctors discovered she had a brain haemorrhage and the decision was made to transfer her to Leeds General Infirmary for surgery.

Bryony had an operation to remove a blood clot from her brain at Leeds, but she was effectively in a coma, unable to breathe unaided and her parents took the heart-wrenching decision to turn off her life support at 10pm on Tuesday.

Rob said: “We are just in absolute shock. The whole thing just felt like it wasn’t happening to us and we were in a horrible dream that we were going to wake up from any second.”

After Bryony’s death, the family were told that she had an arteriovenous malformation (AVM), which arises because of abnormal communications, which directly connect arteries to veins, without a capillary bed in between.

Katherine said: “It was a defect she was born with, but that we knew absolutely nothing about.

“It is very rare for her symptoms to have occurred at such a young age. It usually manifests itself in people when they are in their 40s.

“We can’t thank the doctors at Leeds enough. They have been absolutely fantastic and the support we have had has been second to none.

“We are both lucky that we have large families and have had huge support from them.”

John Baker, Media and Public Relations Officer with NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “We are very sorry to hear of Bryony’s tragic death and our sincere condolences and sympathies are with her parents and family at this sad time in their life. We are sure that, in time, they will draw comfort from the fact that Bryony was able to become an organ donor and to help give the ‘gift of life’ to at least four recipients.”

Bryony was a keen basketball player, as is her 15-year-old brother, James. Bryony played for York Vikings under-14 girls and was due to play National League this year with the under-13 boys team.

Bryony’s funeral will be held at Heworth Methodist Church on Thursday at 1.30pm followed by a committal at York Crematorium.

The symptoms

The most common problem caused by brain AVM is a sudden bleed from blood vessels, known as brain haemorrhage, which is a form of stroke.

The symptoms caused by a brain haemorrhage depend on the location of the AVM within the brain and the severity of the bleeding.

The haemorrhage can be disabling and sometimes even fatal. The risk of dying from a bleed can be as high as one in five.

The first symptoms of a bleed may be: •Headache, sudden and severe •Drowsiness, or loss of consciousness •Other symptoms of a stroke, such as disturbance of vision, muscle weakness or paralysis, loss of sensation or numbness, tingling, confusion, problems in using or understanding language, dizziness, loss of co-ordination •Seizures

Club pays tribute to ‘dynamic’ player

BRYONY was a promising basketball player and loved the game.

Anne Morrice, secretary of York Vikings Junior Basketball Club, paid tribute on behalf of the club to Bryony’s energetic and dynamic personality which was much in evidence in her basketball.

Bryony was introduced to the sport by her brother, James, a long-standing York Vikings player.

Anne said: “Bryony attended a basketball camp in 2006 where she was recognised with the camp’s “Most Improved Player” award.

“Following that she went on to train with the club – and this was before there was a girl’s team.”

In 2007, Bryony represented York in the North Yorkshire Youth Games, where her team reached the semi-finals.

In the 2007-08 season, the club established a girls team and Bryony was one of its founder members. The team competed in the North Yorkshire Central Venue League.

This season, Bryony became one of the club’s first female National League players, and was part of the York Vikings Mixed U13s England Basketball National League team – another first.

Anne said: “Bryony was very athletic, a highly accurate shooter and passer of the ball and could read the game well. She was determined, competitive and generous, always ready to help and encourage others.”

Tributes and condolences only in the comments section, thank you.