Katt Coffey never thought her son would walk again, let alone run.
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But that is exactly what Elermore Vale 16-year-old Maddy Coffey will do on August 7 when he and his family take part in Run Newcastle.
At the start of 2013, the passionate rugby league player was struck down with a rare form of encephalitis, which is an inflammation of the brain.
The illness had began a couple of months earlier and left then 12-year-old Maddy unable to speak, move and in a state of extreme psychosis.
He was eventually diagnosed with NMDA Receptor Encephalitis. At the time there had only been 1000 cases of the rare illness reported worldwide.
He spent 87 days in intensive care and, in all, nearly eight months in hospital.
Maddy’s mum Katt spent a lot of time by the teenager’s bedside in that “traumatic” period.
“As a parent it was just a really hopeless situation because there was nothing that anyone could do; it was just riding the wave,” Ms Coffey said.
“We were very distraught with the whole situation, we couldn’t see any way out of it.
“Basically they just had to treat the symptoms and wait for the virus, or the process of the illness, to travel through.”
Maddy eventually started to improve but it was, and still remains, a long rehabilitation process.
“Physically he is amazing,” Ms Coffey said.
“He’s growing well. He’s meeting his growth spurts and all of that kind of stuff.
“I guess the only real deficits that we see at the moment is that his brain is still healing, so there are still deficits in term of memory loss, recall, processing information.”
Maddy returned to school full-time this year and is in year 11 at Callaghan Campus, Jesmond.
He has also been able to made a full return to rugby league and his beloved Waratah Mayfield team.
Last year he was asked to be a Run Newcastle ambassador and his family were keen to show their support again this year.
All entries go towards the redevelopment of the Adolescent Ward of John Hunter Hospital, where Maddy and his mum spent a lot of time.
“The adolescent ward is really good,” Katt said. “Their facilities there are really good for parents … so I am just grateful that our money goes towards that.”
Maddy and his family will do the six-kilometre run/walk event of Run Newcastle.