‘My husband had a brain aneurysm after a football hit him – I’m seeking treatment abroad as UK hospital has failed us’

A “healthy” father who suffered a brain aneurysm after taking a football to the head has been left largely unresponsive and living in a care home.

Kerem Akalin, 47, from Chadwell Heath, Romford, north-east London, was a fit and fun-loving individual according to his wife, Yasemin, 41, when in May 2023 a football hit his head during a game with a work colleague which is thought to have “triggered a brain aneurysm”.

The father-of-two, who worked in IT for a wholesaler, was rushed to Queen’s Hospital in Romford where CT scans revealed the aneurysm, but after a major operation, Kerem was diagnosed with a subarachnoid haemorrhage, an extremely serious condition where bleeding caused by a ruptured aneurysm results in extensive brain damage.

Since then, Yasemin has highlighted what she claims are issues with his care at the hospital, such as a staple being left in his head during an operation, an “incorrectly” placed shunt and repeated infections – to which a spokesperson for the NHS Trust covering the hospital said they were “truly sorry for the distress caused”.

Yasemin, who has since given up work in customer service and administration, has been left to support the couple’s two children, who she did not wish to name.

She is now seeking alternative treatment options in Istanbul, which she feels would be the best option for her husband, raising over £20,000 on her GoFundMe page so far to help with the costs.

“Kerem loved to live life slowly and he always said ‘life is too short to rush things’,” Yasemin told PA Real Life.

“He was a very healthy man, he ate healthy things, he would check his calories, he exercised.

“Now, he can’t talk, he can’t eat, he can’t walk and his consciousness comes in small, short periods but you don’t know when.

“He responds by blinking or the way he looks.”

Yasemin said on May 18 2023 her husband was playing football with a work colleague when he took a ball to the head.

“When he came home, he began vomiting and he had headaches,” she said.

Yasemin said she took Kerem to A&E at Queen’s Hospital in Romford where a CT scan revealed he had suffered from a brain aneurysm.

“The ball triggered the aneurysm and until that moment, we didn’t know anything was wrong with him,” Yasemin said.

Kerem was rushed for an emergency operation the same day where clips were placed in his head to support a tube to prevent fluid gathering on his brain, Yasemin said.

He was discharged from hospital on May 31 and Yasemin said “everything seemed fine” but just a day later on July 1, Kerem suddenly displayed concerning issues with his movement and speech.

“We were having breakfast with the kids when all of a sudden, he couldn’t move his fork up to his mouth,” she said.

“His talking went slow, he vomited, collapsed and lost consciousness – it was like he switched off.”

Yasemin said Kerem was blue-lighted to hospital, where it was found one of the clips in his brain had “moved”.

He was then diagnosed with a subarachnoid haemorrhage, an extremely serious condition which refers to extensive brain damage and symptoms because of bleeding caused by a ruptured aneurysm, according to the NHS.

“I was asking how this could happen but I wasn’t given a reason,” Yasemin said.

Kerem then had two operations, she said, one on July 3 in which the skull was removed from the right side of his head to give his brain space and relief, and another at the end of August to implant a shunt, a thin tube allowing excess fluid to flow from the brain into another part of the body, according to the NHS.

He was transferred to a rehabilitation centre in Harrow in October 2023 to receive physical therapy, before being moved on to a care home in Harlow in January 2024.

During this time, Yasemin said she became concerned and felt Kerem had “pressure in his head” by the way he appeared.

“I was told everything was fine but you could tell something was wrong,” she said.

In June this year, she said Kerem was taken back to Queen’s Hospital with an infection in his brain where it was found the shunt was not working correctly, causing fluid to build on his brain.

“I was frustrated because I had been telling them this for months and months,” she said.

Yasemin said doctors decided to remove the shunt for a few weeks and an operation to replace it was scheduled for July 2024.

However, Yasemin said the surgery could not go ahead because a staple had been left behind in Kerem’s brain after a previous operation.

“They saw that he had a staple from his previous operation and this got infected,” Yasemin said, adding it was later removed.

“They said sorry and they treated him with antibiotics.”

After the infection cleared, Kerem had the operation to replace the shunt on July 20 and he was transferred back to the care home in Harlow.

Yasemin said he remains in a largely unresponsive state due to the brain damage from the haemorrhage, he is “not alert” and “can’t function himself”.

She is now hoping to raise enough money to take Kerem to Istanbul via a medical flight to receive treatment from a doctor she has found.

They have suggested Kerem needs an operation to replace the part of his skull which was removed, receive alternative medication and undertake a specialist robotic rehabilitation program.

“I looked for something similar in the UK but I couldn’t find much from my research, this is the best treatment I could find,” she explained.

Yasemin has launched a GoFundMe page, which has raised over £20,000, to help pay for the care he would receive but she added it is unclear what level of treatment he will need until they arrive.

“Kerem will blink, when I tell him to he will squeeze my hand, he will cry and get emotional, he will follow things with his eyes, he’s there,” she said.

“I want to go for it, I want to try it, I don’t want to have any regret in the future that we didn’t try.

“I love him, I love him so much.”

Yasemin said she has complained to Queen’s Hospital on several occasions and has received their apologies.

A spokesperson for Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust said: “We understand this is a hugely difficult time for the family and we’re truly sorry for the distress caused.”

To find out more, visit Yasemin’s GoFundMe page here: www.gofundme.com/f/bring-hope-back-to-our-home-our-family.