A Perth mother is warning people about a common, silent genetic mutation that caused blood clots that killed her son.
Graham Wild, 15, had just flown home to Perth after the end of the school term in Canberra and was walking near his mother’s house when he collapsed in late 2022..
The teen was almost home when he texted his mother, Kathryn Robinson, a one-word message: ‘HELP!’
Mrs. Robinson called her son immediately. She said her heart was racing, he felt cold and sweaty and he couldn’t return home.
She said 7News He found his son near a neighbor’s house, sitting on the sidewalk.
Graham Wild, 15, (pictured) collapsed while walking and texted his mother for help. He deteriorated in the hospital and doctors and nurses took turns administering CPR for an hour and a half.
Graham (;eft) was remembered as a mature, loving son who loved football and tee-ball.
They got into their car and “raced” the six-minute drive to a hospital in Joondalup.
“They were doing an x-ray and that’s when his heart stopped,” he said.
Graham’s condition deteriorated rapidly and once doctors suspected he may have a blood clot, medication to break it up was given too late.
Doctors and nurses performed CPR for an hour and a half, but too much time had passed, so even if they revived him, the teenager would have suffered catastrophic brain damage.
Robinson stayed by her son’s side throughout the night and returned home in the morning to tell her siblings the devastating news.
She said her loving, mature son loved soccer and tee-ball, and one day he wanted to open an animal sanctuary.
It took seven months to establish that Graham’s death was caused by a genetic mutation of the F5 gene, which provides instructions for making the clotting protein factor V.
Graham’s mother Kathryn Robinson (pictured) wants other families to have a simple blood test that can detect the common condition suffered by one in 20 Australians. After Graham’s death, her family got tested and both she and her four-year-old daughter have the hidden gene.
The condition is known as Factor V Leiden (FVL) and according to the Perth Blood Instituteincreases a person’s chances of having blood clots, “mainly in the legs and lungs.”
Once they discovered Graham’s cause of death, the family was tested for the condition and discovered that both Mrs Robinson and her four-year-old daughter had the genetic mutation.
Said Professor Ross Baker, president of the Perth Blood Institute 7News one in 20 Australians has it.
“In families, one in two people inherits it, so it is very common,” he said.
Professor Baker said it was important for Australians with a history of thrombosis to have a blood test to see if they had the hidden gene.
Robinson said his family knew nothing about the test.
“I wish we had known that a simple blood test could have saved our son’s life,” she said.
Graham (pictured) was walking near his mother’s house when he collapsed in late 2022.
In retrospect, there were some signs that Graham might not have been okay.
When the science-loving teenager, with a fan of anime, chess, ants and reptiles, disembarked the plane from Canberra, he was having trouble breathing.
But since Graham suffered from asthma, he thought it was a minor attack and used his inhaler.
The morning he collapsed, he woke up later than usual feeling fatigued, but since he had been playing video games all night, no one was alarmed.
Her devastated mother wants to raise awareness for other families to get tested for FVL and avoid the loss of a loved one caused by uncontrolled blood clots.
The science-loving teen (center) also loved anime, chess, ants, and reptiles.
