Legal fight to get sick kids drug on NHS
HOPE Amelia and Oliver THE parents of two terminally ill kids whose plight touched Prince Harry have launched a legal fight to get potentially lifesaving drugs on the NHS.
Oliver, eight, and Amelia Carroll, six, have neurodegenerative condition Batten disease and are unlikely to live past 12.
A moving image emerged last year of the Duke of Sussex cradling Oliver in hospital.
The siblings have been part of a trial for enzymebased cerliponase alfa, which is £550,000 a year for each patient and NICE, which assesses treatments, will not fund it.
Mum Lucy, of Poynton, Cheshire, said: “It is devastating to think an effective treatment is not being made accessible. This has to change.” JUMP FOR JOY Team celebrates A TODDLER missing in woodland for three days was found 50ft down a steep slope at a mine after a rescuer heard him crying.
Kenneth Howard, 22 months, vanished last Sunday evening when dad Elden left him alone in their garden for a few minutes.
Hundreds of civilians joined police and emergency response agencies searching with dogs, 4x4s, helicopters and drones with thermal cameras.
They scoured almost 300 acres of rugged terrain south-east of Lexington in Floyd County, Kentucky.
And Kenneth was finally found in foliage down a steep embankment at the open mine on Wednesday afternoon – a third of a mile from home.
Magoffin County Rescue Squad chief Carter Conley said it was “a miracle”, adding: “God was leading us and this team to the right place.”
TOUGH
Kenneth was dehydrated but generally well and Sheriff Carson Montgomery hailed him as “a true Kentucky mountain boy”. He said: “He was about 50ft down a steep embankment. He was in a little isolated area that no one thought he would be in.
“He happened to cry and one of the searchers heard it.” Kenneth is recovering in hospital and there is no evidence of foul play.
Fire chief Brent Handshoe said: “He’s tough, that little kid. “I can’t believe all the help. I don’t know how we’re going to thank everybody. “I really don’t know where all they’ve come from, out of state, and everywhere to help us.” Elden, who offered a £4,000 reward for his son’s safe return, said of hearing he had been found: “Disbelief, for a while. Until they told me they were sure it was him and stuff, and I’d seen a picture. I said, ‘That’s my boy.’ “Tickled me to death. Best thing that ever happened to me in my life.”