The Thomas Tambo Teddy- a special teddy bear for a special little boy

We have created a lovely range of Thomas Tambo Teddies especially to help raise funds for little Thomas Walsh and his family.

 

Thomas Daryl Leslie Walsh was born on the 23rd December 2015 at Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital.

 

His troubled journey started after a tertiary ultrasound in Townsville at 32 weeks when Craig, Cindy, William and James, were told that their precious baby was going to be born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta Type 2 (lethal), with a 2% chance of survival.

 

Thomas proved to be a real little fighter though and came out screaming.  Genetic testing to confirm the OI diagnosis was negative and after almost 5 weeks in NICU and Special Care Nursery, Thomas and Mummy flew home to Devoncourt Station in Cloncurry on the 15 January 2016 without any extra support needed. Thomas was just going to need regular check ups and some castings on his feet to correct slight talipes.

 

Confirmation of  a diagnosis for a condition called Hypophosphatasia or HPP came after Tommy’s X-rays were reviewed by one of the leading skeletal Dysplasia expert in France. Thomas is only the third diagnosed case of Perinatal HPP in Australia.
After being home for about 4 weeks, Thomas had a few respiratory moments which resulted in him being admitted to the Mount Isa Hospital on the 14 February 2016 with respiratory distress before being flown by Care Flight to Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital ICU on 27 February 2016. Tommy is now a long term patient in PICU.

 

Doctors have given Tommy a 50% chance that his respiratory distress will improve however family and friends are confident his fighting spirit will continue to beat the odds.

 

Mother, Cindy is currently living in Brisbane, while Tommy’s father Craig, and brothers, William and James ,are back in Cloncurry at Devoncourt Station.

 

No one knows the outcome or length of Tommy’s journey but the Walsh family have the support of great friends such as Krystal Peating who contacted us to make a special Thomas bear to help raise some much needed funds. The Thomas Tambo Teddy is a large honey basil bear with suede paws with one foot embroidered with ‘Thomas Tambo Teddy’. The Thomas bears are dressed in pale blue checked shirts, denim jeans, plaited belt and wear an akubra hat- just like Thomas’s brothers, William and James.

 

You can order a Thomas Tambo Teddy and help support this lovely family.