A DORSET couple have backed a UK-wide campaign of Dravet Syndrome after their son suffered from months of seizures.

Rosie and Christian Davidson's son Henry was diagnosed aged two years old after three stays in intensive care. 

As well as seizures, Henry has global development delay and is nonverbal alongside autistic traits and possibly ADHD which is all part of how the syndrome affects him. 

Blandford resident Rosie said: "Henry had his first seizure at seven months in the supermarket. Until then he’d been a perfectly healthy baby, so it came completely out of the blue. He was sitting in the trolly, and his arm started moving.

"At first, I thought he was starting to wave, but then a full-body seizure took over and I realized something was very wrong.

"The seizure lasted 45 minutes, but it felt like a lifetime waiting for the ambulance. The paramedics gave him meds, but they couldn’t say what it was.”

Aged 11 months old, Henry had another seizure and then again at 15 months old when on holiday in France. 

“On the last night, when we were due to go home, Henry began having cluster seizures", Rosie continued. "We called an ambulance and ended up in the hospital with Henry in intensive care.

"He was given drugs that we know now could have made his seizures worse.

“Over the next two months, Henry had 115 seizures, it was nine seizures a day at that point, full body convulsions and he ended up in intensive care again.

"It was so awful, I didn’t really leave the house, I just couldn’t function."

On new medication, Henry has now been seizure-free for a year and is among those helped by Dravet Syndrome UK. 

The charity supports 550 families with the condition and hopes to raise more awareness for the syndrome. 

Galia Wilson, chair and trustee, Dravet Syndrome UK, said: “We are joining with families across the UK to raise awareness and share little moments of what it's like to care for someone with Dravet Syndrome so we can reach even more people in need of our vital support.”