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Kyffin's Story

Kyffin is a very bright, entertaining, lively 9-year-old, who like any child his age is awarded stars for good behaviour and getting his homework done on time.

Kyffin knows just how to earn the extra stars which he is allowed to trade for additional time doing the things he loves to do, which is why he’s a bit of a champion when it comes to his Nintendo skills. He is great at building large Lego models, and he loves both his trains and cars. Perhaps a little unusual for someone his age – Kyffin’s knowledge of the weather is second to none. Kyffin and his dad Richard even built a weather station to attach to their garage and keep an eye on all thing’s meteorological. From Hurricanes and Cyclones in the Pacific to Typhoons in the Indian Ocean, he is well-informed when it comes to the tornadoes in Dixie alley and Tornado alley in Texas (and he likes the idea of being a Storm Chaser in years to come).

Kyffin and his parents Richard and Sarah, along with their beautiful black lab Luna, enjoy camping – they had recently spent a fairly soggy weekend camping at the Fairfield airshow, and Kyffin is excited about their next camping adventure in France during his school summer holidays.

Kyffin had a Nasogastric/Nasojejunal tube placed within hours of being born and has always been tube fed. He had a surgical Jejenostomy placed when he was about 3 months old. This was changed to the gastrostomy in October 2021 because his reflux had improved enough for him to manage it. Kyffin does occasionally have very small amounts of food orally – maybe a little yogurt or ice cream but relies heavily on his feeding tube for the majority of his daily intake.

Once Kyffin had a feeding tube placed directly into his stomach known as a button he decided he would update his classmates to let them know how he receives his daily fluids and nutrition. As school lunch is served in the dining hall for all the pupils, Kyffin then decided he would share his story with the entire school. When Kyffin came up with this idea his parents asked if he was certain it was something he wanted to do. It meant standing up in the school assembly in front of approximately 220 pupils along with all teaching staff and helpers, but he was adamant, so Richard helped Kyffin to prepare a few slides and prompt cards so he would remember what he wanted to say. He did such a great job with his presentation and sharing something so personal to him. His courage presenting to such a big crowd was extremely well received and to recognize this achievement he was given a special Head Teachers award. Kyffin and his parents were very proud and the children at his school were given a firsthand opportunity to understand more about tube feeding and the way that Kyffin receives his nutrition.

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Kyffin agreed to share some of his tube feeding experience in a short interview with his Homeward Nurse Rebecca, but this isn’t Kyffins first starring role. When he was about a year old, he appeared in an X Factor music video as one of the children at Shooting Star House with Matt Terrys Christmas song. He is an absolute natural in front of the camera and was keen to make the front page following his interview.

Tube feeding is just the way Kyffin feeds, it’s the way he receives all the nutrition and hydration he needs, and it doesn’t stop him from doing anything he wants to do. He loves playing football (he plays pan-disability football with both the Chelsea and Fulham Foundations), he loves swimming and has recently started archery.

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