Hello! Disability boy finds a voice for the first time
Camilla loses War of the Waleses
THE parents of a severely disabled teenager said they burst into tears after he spoke for the first time.
Epileptic James Walker, 16, had spent his life in silence before a revolutionary machine enabled him to say “Hello” through a computer.
It provoked tears from Gina and Ian Walker of Hull. James suffers from Lennox- Gastaut syndrome and used to suffer between 30 to 50 fits every day until doctors fitted him with an electrical nerve stimulator to help stem the seizures.
But although he could see, hear and think just like any other teenager, his attacks stunted his development and he never learnt to walk or talk.
The breakthrough came after James started using an eye- tracking machine to help with his school work. By blinking at the screen he tells the computer to say what he is thinking.
Gina, 40, said: “When I walked into the room and heard him say ‘ Hello’, I burst into tears. For his entire life he hasn’t been able to speak, so it feels like a miracle.
“People said James would never be able to do anything but we knew he has something to give and now he has found his voice. This machine will change his life completely. It will give him independence for the first time and a chance to make his own choices.”
Charity worker Gina said her dream is to hear James James with his mother
Gina tell her “I love you” and for him to have a conversation with his sister Natasha, 19.
Keen rugby fan James has been learning the technology at school but gets just 30 minutes a week to use it. His parents are now trying to raise the £ 12,000 needed to buy a machine for their home.
Warehouse worker Ian, 45, said: “He needs a lot of practice to use this machine and get to the stage where he will be able to talk to us about anything.” THE Duchess of Cornwall climbs into the boxing ring to commiserate with “her boys” after a defeat that left Prince Charles with bragging rights.
In the War of the Waleses fought through the regiments which the royal couple serve as honorary colonels, her lads from the 4th Battalion The Rifles were licking their wounds yesterday after losing eight bouts to one to the Parachute Regiment, of which Prince Charles is colonel- in- chief.
Camilla was visiting 4 Rifles at their base at Bulford Camp in Wiltshire the day after their evening tournament at Colchester, in Essex.