THE parents of a baby boy with a rare condition which could see his legs and an arm amputated, want their brave little boy to be an example to others.
Seven-month-old Cavan Kirkham-MacCallum has hemimelia, which means he was born without crucial bones in his arms and legs.
He is a happy little boy but his future means facing the option of amputation or painful limb reconstruction, which is only available in America and may not be effective.
Cavan's condition was discovered by his parents, Bernadette and James of Allerton Drive, Burnley, during an ultrasound scan. But so little is known about it that no doctors could give the couple, who have an older son, Joey (6), any real information.
His parents have to make the difficult decision whether to have his legs and right arm amputated, so Cavan could be fitted with prosthetics, or for him to have new, complicated limb reconstruction, which would take eight years and involve hours of operations and cost thousands of pounds.
Bernadette said: "The majority of things we know have come from the internet and talking to people who have gone through it themselves.
"There will undoubtedly be things we will have to face as time goes on that most parents don't expect, and Cavan is not going to have an easy time, but he is a very bright, happy little boy and he is so good and copes so well with everything he has to go through."
Bernadette has started a hemimelia support group on the social networking site Facebook –
http://www.facebook.com/group. php?gid=11616332651 – and in just four days saw five people, either with the condition or fellow parents of sufferers, join.
She added: "In the future I am hoping to work with other charities or I might even set up my own to make this happen, but as yet there is no specific charity or support group set up to do this. This is only the beginning of my long journey and I would like to appeal to local users to look at it."
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