'For Louie and the next family walking through those doors': Dad's 18-mile walk for LGI ward that helped son's stroke recovery

Like any normal day, seven-year-old Louie Clark ran out to play football with a family friend - but then everything changed.

Moments after starting to play, Louie vomited and became drowsy and arriving home, dad, Ben, knew instantly that something was seriously wrong.

Rushed to hospital, doctors soon confirmed Louie had had a childhood ischaemic stroke caused by a dissection of the neck artery.

Louie spent almost 80 days in intensive care receiving round-the-clock treatment – and now, his family want to give back.

"Ward L52 at Leeds General Infirmary became our entire world,” Ben, 37, said.

"It was a world of monitors, scans, and terrifying uncertainty. But it was also a place of miracles.

“​While Louie fought to relearn the basics – how to sit, how to move, how to be a boy again – the staff on Paediatric Neurosciences Ward L52 became our family.

"They held us up when we crumbled and cheered the loudest for every tiny inch of progress Louie made.”

So, exactly one year to the day – on February 24 – Ben will be setting off on foot from the family home he shares with Lindsey and their four sons, Jordan, 15, Dylan, 12, Louie, now eight and five-year-old Ethan, to Leeds General Infirmary.

"When you spend 80 days in a hospital chair, you learn exactly what families need,” Ben said.

"So the money raised will help care packages for the ward, sensory and rehab toys to help other children find the fun in their recovery.

​”The Parent Survival Kits include toiletries, snacks and essentials for the mums and dads who, like us, arrived in an emergency and didn’t leave for weeks.

"We want to give back and turn the anniversary of the worst day of our lives into the a day of celebration and giving back – for Louie, for the ward and for the next family walking through those doors.”

The family has shared clips of Louie’s progress on TikTok, which Ben says are to show ‘medical resilience’ and ‘laugh in the face of emotion’.

"I’ve had messages from people whose kids have also had strokes and it’s raising awareness and offering encouragement, letting anyone going through the same thing know that it might be bad now, but look at what can happen.

"They’ve also helped me a lot. The videos from shortly after Louie had the stroke were really though to watch, but now, seeing how far he’s come, they’re helping.

"It’s been really tough on Louie, he’s had to undergo so much physio and speech therapy – it’s brutal.

“He is now still physically weak on his left side and his eyesight has gone at the bottom in both eyes, but we’re overcoming the physical side of things, now it’s understanding the mental side.

"We’re having to understand his brain and it’s incredible what I have learned.

“But we will get there – as a family. We’re a great team.”

To donate to Ben and Louie’s GofundMe page, click here.

To watch Ben and Louie’s TikTok videos, click here