A FAMILY living with their child's debilitating brain injury are baffled by doctors' refusal to perform a scan that might help him.
The Pyle family has been living for almost five years with the consequences of an injury suffered by son Alec Taylor, 7.
Alec fell headfirst from a second storey balcony at Coolum on December 5, 2009.
Then 2, the little boy was rushed to Nambour Hospital with head pain and bruising.
His family say Alec was released from the hospital the same day, with doctors satisfied he would pull through.
But the little boy's condition deteriorated and he has now lived with intense head pain for almost five years, cannot speak and suffers a range of cognitive problems.
Alec's aunt, Jimboomba resident Christine Pyle, said the family was at its wits end.
She said despite a host of other methods failing to diagnose Alec, doctors at the Mater Children's Hospital in Brisbane were refusing to do a PET (positron emission tomography) scan of Alec's brain, which was recommended to them by Sydney neurologist Dr Erica Jacobson.
"Dr Jacobson recommended the PET scan but the doctors in Brisbane have rejected it," she said.
"We don't care about the cost, we (the family) have all said we would mortgage our houses if that is what it takes but doctors are saying it 'wouldn't be useful'."
Alec's mother Jennifer Pyle is desperate for answers for her son.
She said she had grave concerns about the way a doctor at the Mater had represented Alec's case recently when requesting the PET scan.
In the letter obtained by the Times, the doctor states: "Alec's current presentation is for a 4-7 day history of increased aggression and self harming behaviour... the paediatric team/neurology counsel that there remains little, if any benefit in the scan."
Jennifer said the letter was inaccurate.
"This is completely inaccurate as by the time the referral was sent, Alec had been an inpatient of the (hospital) for 19 days," Jennifer said.
"(He also) stated that we the parents noted (behavioural) changes the past three months.
"This again (is) completely inaccurate, as per the Mater's medical records, Alec was taken by ambulance to the children's emergency department four months earlier... for the very same condition."
Jennifer said time was of the essence in treating Alec, who had "no quality of life".
"We don't ask for donations or pity, (we are) just asking for the right treatment to be done for my little boy," she said.
Christine and Jennifer launched a Facebook campaign a few months ago and are driving around a trailer advertising Alec's condition, in the hope of finding a specialist to treat Alec, or others living successfully with similar conditions.
"We have to be Alec's voice because he can't talk," Jennifer said.
The Mater Children's Hospital has declined to comment on the case for patient confidentiality reasons.
For more information visit Medical Assistance for ALEC on Facebook.
