Saskatoon family making each day count after devastating diagnosis of 3-year-old boy

The Wilson family is spending each day as if it's the last for three-year-old Tanner.

Tanner's mother, Leeanne, still doesn't fully understand the diagnosis her son received just a few weeks ago, but she knows Leigh syndrome is breaking down her son's central nervous system.

"Basically it's taking away Tanner's motor skills and muscles and eventually his respiratory will go. So it's breaking down his daily functions," she explained.

Leeanne said Tanner had always been a healthy boy, but when he was two, he started going downhill. The toddler began losing his balance and his speech began regressing.

Doctors thought maybe it was an ear infection.

"Everything from there on, whatever happened to Tanner, they always tied everything to his ears because he would get these infections so bad, he would shut down," Leeanne recalled.

However, blood work and tests done over the next year and a half never found anything wrong.

Leeanne said her son kept getting worse, losing more of his speech and mobility. She said this past August long weekend was the worst.

"His falling was just terrible. It was almost like a tree being cut down. He would just face plant."

Getting an answer

Tanner's pediatrician was on call at the hospital and admitted the boy so he could get an MRI.

Leeanne said she and her husband were only back in Tanner's hospital room for about 10 minutes following the procedure when the pediatrician told them they needed to talk.

"And as soon as I heard that, I looked at my husband and I'm like, 'Oh no, that's not good.'"

By the time Leeanne and Patrick got to the room at the other end of the ward, shesaid she was crying.

"And they told us, worst-case scenario, we believe that Tanner has Leigh syndrome and right now we just don't know if he's going to last two weeks or two years."

Living each day as though it was his last

The doctor told the family they should now live every day as though it was Tanner's last as they wait for results of a spinal tap and other testing that should tell them how severe of a case Tanner has.

"I do know just from August long weekend until now, Tanner`s mobility has definitely decreased. He`s having a hard time even rolling over. And he just gets so tired so fast. He just gets walking and just falls."

Leeanne said her work told her to take time off to take care of her son. Patrick is off work as well due to stress leave.

Family has now set up a Go Fund Me page to offer financial support to the Wilsons. As of Monday night, it had already reached $8,135 of its $10,000 goal.

Leeanne said one of their doctors is also helping them get in touch with the Children's WishFoundation.

"Because Tanner doesn't talk, I'm just going off what makes him happy. And he's a huge Disney fiend and superhero fiend, so I'm thinking he really loves the Disney cruise line commercial with Woody and Buzz [from Toy Story], so I'm thinking that would be a good wish for him."