Blackpool stars rally round Jake

Jake Fleet is 14 years old and lives in Lytham St Annes with his Mum, Julie.  He suffers from an extremely rare genetic disorder called Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva, known in short as FOP.

This is where a person’s muscles, tendons and connective tissue are progressively turning to bone, building an extra skeleton around the body, forming bridges of bone which restrict movement and eventually, in most cases, the body becomes totally rigid with no movement at all.

Jake cannot have operations or injections, no hard knocks to the body, even a routine filling at the dentist means an overnight stay in hospital; any trauma to the body can cause bone formation.  The condition affects one in two million people, and there is no known cause or cure.

Jake was born with FOP, but only diagnosed at the age of eleven after a fall in the playground.  His GP noticed extra bone growing around Jake’s knee joint and not knowing how to treat it, they operated to remove the bone; when more bone grew back aggressively they realised their mistake, but the damage was done. 

Until then Jake had been passionate about sport, and a keen footballer, when younger he was coached by Steve Thompson in the Bispham Youth Team.

Jake now needs help urgently to get back to a good level of fitness to be able to cope better with his condition. 

Derek and Lyn Spence at Blackpool Football Club were approached by Trish and John O’Hara, who are making a documentary on Jake’s condition, to help motivate Jake into doing this through his passion, football.  With a healthier diet and exercise, and with the help of his football heroes and club staff, life can get better for Jake.

Derek and Lyn will mentor Jake, alongside Blackpool striker, Ben Burgess, who lives near Jake in Lytham and the rest of the players at Blackpool FC.

John and Trish O’Hara from Key Productions are making a one hour documentary following Jake’s progress for broadcast TV, which we hope will also be an incentive for Jake to do well in his task. 

If anyone would like more information about Jake’s story please contact Lyn or Derek Spence at Blackpool FC on 01253 772472.