A LITTLE boy has been given a further boost in his bid to walk for the very first time.
The family of two-year-old Adam Butterfield have just been told he can start receiving physiotherapy in eight weeks time.
It’s the date his parents wanted as the start of the process to getting him on his feet.
And once the physio pays dividends, those very first steps should follow.
Adam has Emanuel Syndrome, a chromosome abnormality affecting every cell in his tiny body. There are only 12 reported cases of the syndrome in the UK and 200 in the world.
Experts previously told his Peterlee parents Nicola McAllister, 36, and dad John Butterfield, 40, who have relatives in Hartlepool, that Adam could suffer from a string of health conditions including heart seizures, kidney failure, asphyxiation, severe mental health problems and an inability to talk.
They also initially predicted he would never walk yet Adam can begin the process to prove them wrong within weeks.
Nicola said; “Physio will start in around eight weeks. The physiotherapist told us that Adam walking could be any time from six months to year, but it really depends on him and how much work we can put in with him.”
Adam’s ability to walk comes about after an operation in which surgeons rotated his hip and put the lower half of his body in plaster.
The cast was removed last Monday and Adam is now in a harness to aid his movement.
The three-and-a-half hour operation to rotate his hip was carried out at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough and was known as a femeral osteotomy.
Nicola, who lives in the Acre Rigg area of Peterlee, said: “We have got a standing frame at home and Adam will be in at as often as possible.”
Adam will need care for the rest of his life. Some sufferers do not live beyond childhood, but others are known to have lived into their 60s.
John, a former Army Lance Corporal, previously admitted to the Mail his son’s health problems were harder for him to fight than the 10 years he spent in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Iraq with the Royal Engineers between 1989 and 1999.
Adam arrived in the world eight days late at the University Hospital of Hartlepool weighing 8lb 2oz at 3.57am on Sunday, January 18, 2009.