A NINE-year-old boy left blind and with a brain injury after his vicious father’s violent beating has died in hospital as police conduct an urgent investigation.
Bradley Nelson was left severely disabled and unable to walk, talk or eat after he was attacked by his father Darren Spreadbury at their home in Whitby, North. Yorkshirein April 2016 – when he was seven months old.
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Bradley Nelson was left blind and brain damaged after being violently abused by father Darren SpreadburyCredit: PA 
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Sharon Boocock, 44, with her son Bradley NelsonCredit: PA 
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Bradley became severely disabled and could no longer walk, talk or eat after being attacked by his fatherCredit: PA
The horrific abuse Bradley suffered was so violent that he went blind. He was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy. epilepsy.
In 2018, Spreadbury was sentenced to four years in prison after scans showed Bradley’s brain injury was caused by shaken baby syndrome – the name given to serious brain damage resulting from vigorously shaking a baby or toddler.
Nine years later, North Yorkshire Police has opened a new one research after Bradley sadly passed away in Scarborough General Hospital on October 22.
Bradley’s mother Sharon Boocock, a 44-year-old bartender who was at his bedside when he died, said he was “always smiling and happy” despite his medical problems.
A fundraising campaign has been launched GoFundMe by Sharon’s friends to help cover Bradley’s funeral The costs have already raised more than £2,700 – with donors describing him as the “bravest little boy”.
Sharon, who lives with her three other children, said: “I had to sit with him for ten minutes and then he went into another massive cardiac arrest and they just couldn’t get him back.
“Bradley was blind because he shook him so hard, broke his optic nerve and had a can of blood worth a Coke stuck between his brain and his skull.”
The traumatic events took place on April 6, 2016, when Sharon was woken by her ex-partner Darren who told her that Bradley had stopped breathing.
She rushed downstairs and began CPR before an ambulance arrived and Bradley was taken to Scarborough General Hospital A&E.
Police were called after a CT scan showed Bradley had suffered a brain injury that doctors feared was caused by physical abuse.
Sharon continued: “They asked me what had happened and I said, ‘I just woke up and he’s not breathing, I don’t know, I’m not a doctor.’
“When they said it was an unexplained, non-accidental head injury, I thought, what are you talking about?”
Despicable catfish pedo who drove the victim to take his own life and abused thousands of children who were sent to prison for life
“It took me a long time to believe they were right.”
A few weeks later, Bradley’s father, Darren, was charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
To this day, Sharon doesn’t know what happened, but medical results show that Bradley had 12 ounces of blood between his brain and skull and was shaken so hard that his optic nerve broke, leaving him blind.
After the attack, Bradley, who was born “fit and well,” was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and epilepsy.
Due to the brain damage, it was “unsafe” for Bradley to swallow, so in April 2021, at the age of five, he underwent PEG surgery to insert a feeding tube into his stomach.
Tragically, his intestines were damaged during the operation, and Bradley was rushed back to hospital a week later.
After doctors performed surgery to repair his intestines, Bradley sneezed, causing his wound to reopen.
Sharon explained: “Bradley sneezed and the entire wound, from the bottom of his ribcage to the top of his groin, literally exploded, leaving his entire waist on the bed.”
“We ended up living with his intestines outside his stomach in a bag for the next year.”
Over the next few months, Bradley repeatedly developed sepsis and when the infection returned aggressively in October 2021, Sharon was told “he won’t survive this one”.
‘WONDER’ CHILD
Doctors feared Bradley was on the brink of cardiac arrest, but after three tense days he pulled through.
“We were just waiting for it, but by absolute miracle it didn’t happen,” she said.
“They are now calling him a miracle in Ward 42 because they have never seen anyone recover from those (heart rate and oxygen level) numbers.”
Despite his miraculous recovery, Bradley remained in a very weak condition and was at risk of succumbing to another bout of sepsis.
Sharon was told they could try a risky operation with a 50-50 chance of survival or he would probably never leave the hospital.
She agreed and after twelve hours on the operating table, ten days in an induced coma and eight weeks of recovery, Bradley was finally discharged in July 2023.
But last month Bradley was sent home from school after complaining of feeling sleepy and not being himself.
Sharon took him to the Rainbow children’s ward at Scarborough General Hospital, where doctors suggested Bradley had probably contracted a virus.
Sharon returned home at tea time to care for her other children, leaving Bradley in hospital with her mother Lynda.
Around 10:30 p.m., she received a call from doctors to say Bradley was not doing well and immediately returned to the hospital.
‘INSTANT BLUE’
She arrived at the hospital and Sharon was getting Bradley ready for bed around midnight when he suddenly “covered it like a bag of spuds” and fell unconscious.
“He immediately turned blue and stopped breathing – I was screaming for someone,” Sharon said.
Sharon and her partner Jonny Nelson were told Bradley had suffered a seizure before being put on a ventilator to aid his breathing.
“They left us in a big open space and he was standing in front of us,” she said.
“I saw the doctor doing really quick chest compressions and I thought, ‘What’s going on?’
“Nobody would answer me.”
After 20 minutes of chest compressions, Bradley’s heart rate returned, but he soon suffered another “major” cardiac arrest and tragically died.
“They just couldn’t get him back,” Sharon said.
Last week, police informed Sharon that they were investigating the cause of his death.
A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police said: “We have been made aware of the death of a nine-year-old boy from the Whitby area who sadly passed away in hospital on October 22.”
“The child had complex medical needs and an investigation into the cause of his death is currently underway, which reflects due process in such circumstances.”
To support Sharon via the GoFundMe click Heregarding.