Bexhill snooker champion to support Brighton family of little girl, 4, with rare condition

Jimmy Robertson, European Masters Champion, will be playing frames and raising money for the charity, Dravet Syndrome UK on Saturday (September 14).

The event, at the Castle Snooker and Sports Bar in Brighton, has been organised by Martin and Gemma Stocker, from Brighton. Their four-year-old daughter, Paige, has the condition.

Martin said Paige was diagnosed with the syndrome when she was nine months old. He said: “My wife went in to check on Paige and found her having some type of seizure. She was rushed to hospital where it continued with a total length of around two hours. Paige fortunately recovered in hospital, being monitored closely for a couple of days before being discharged.

“We then received appointments to see a neurologist. Paige continued to have prolonged seizures so blood tests were carried out and sent off for complex testing and the results came back that Paige had a rare form of epilepsy called Dravet Syndrome. We were devastated and didn’t know what the future held for Paige and had to do a lot of research ourselves online. Paige continues to have seizures but they have reduced in length and is now on three different medications twice a day. She is a happy little girl and loves to socialise with people, even though the condition has caused her to have delayed speech, only being able to say about 15 words.

“This is the third year we have held the fundraising event. Dave Kelly, owner of the Castle Snooker and Sports Bar, and manager Patrick Adams, have been amazing, supporting me to raise awareness and money for Dravet Syndrome UK but also supported Paige, myself, my wife and my family through these events with great success. I certainly couldn’t have done it without them.

“The event has been in planning over the last five months and during this time Jimmy has visit Paige, myself and Gemma at the club.

“He took time out of his busy schedule to play snooker with Paige, promote Dravet Syndrome UK and the Paige Stocker Charity Day and plan how it was going to work, which I am so grateful to him for.”

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