We love watching the Malone family, Tom and Julie and their two sons, Tom Jr and Shaun, as they tune in to put on the telly every week on Gogglebox. But the family have previously opened up about their horrifying experience after Shaun underwent brain surgery when a common head cold developed into a rare brain disease back in 2010.
Shaun appeared on Children's Hospital
Previously speaking to the Mirror about the experience, Julie explained: "We were absolutely frantic. The doctor said Shaun only had a slim chance of surviving surgery, that there were no beds available. Tom said I just went doolally saying, 'He's going to be fine, he's going to be fine'. Thankfully Tom was level-headed and really pushed them."
She continued: "When a bed was finally found Shaun spent six hours in surgery to remove a piece of bone from his skull because of the swelling. He was in a coma for two weeks and when he came around had to learn to walk all over again." Shaun's road to recovery was documented in the ITV show Children's Hospital.
Shaun is now fully recovered
Shaun, who is now a football coach and previously appeared as Michael in the West End production of Billy Elliot, also opened up about that time in his life, explaining: "I spent six months in hospital and was so down when I came out, but then I went to the [football] club and saw players with all sorts of disabilities. I stopped feeling sorry for myself and gave myself a kick up the bum. It makes me feel really good to be able to help young kids and I hope they look at me and realise that you can make something of yourself no matter what life brings."
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Tom and Shaun after he returned home from hospital
Shaun is now back to full health, and the family have previously spoken about his recovery on Gogglebox, with Tom recounting a somewhat harsh prank Shaun once played after his surgery.
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While watching a news story about brain surgery, Tom explained: "The worst thing was he had the shunt thing put in the side of his head and all his skull was missing, he had a woolly hat on, and I brought him to McDonald's down the road. He got an ice cream and he was sucking on it, and there was this girl going round cleaning the tables in McDonald's, and he took his hat off and went, 'Ahhhh... brain freeze!' He turned around and all his head was gone. She nearly fainted. [Expletive] hell, she nearly went under. Do you remember that?" Shaun laughed, replying: "Oh yeah, that was cruel."
