MUM OF SICK
A SICK toddler is being denied vital treatment – which he’d get if his family moved just 35 miles.
Awstin Raymond suffers from a form of cerebral palsy that leaves him immobile and howling in pain.
The NHS funds a pioneering spinal operation in England that has helped sufferers walk.
But it is not available in Wales where the 23-month-old lad lives.
His mum Clare Williams, 33, said: “We are talking about an operation that could change Awstin’s life here.
“For him to be denied a better future based purely on our address is impossible for us to accept.”
The family live in Blackwood, Caerphilly – 35 miles from the Severn Bridge that connects England and Wales.
Diagnosed
“How can I explain to my son when he’s older and unable to walk that if he lived across the bridge his life would be totally different?” said Clare. “It’s not right. “It makes me wonder how many other families have been denied life-changing treatments because of their postcode. Treatment opportunities should be equal across the UK.”
Clare, a childminder, and partner Richard Raymond, 32, a factory supervisor, are now trying to raise £50,000 to fund the op and aftercare.
“We shouldn’t be in a position where we have to raise the money ourselves,” she said.
“In principle it’s wrong but this surgery could set Awstin’s life on a different path, so we have to do whatever we can.”
Clare – also mother to Harry, eight, and Megan, 16, from a previous relationship – first noticed something amiss in
February when Awstin still couldn’t walk at 15 months. In August, he was diagnosed with spastic diplegia cerebral palsy at Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr Hospital.
The neurological condition makes limbs stiff, meaning some sufferers struggle to walk while others cannot at all.
“You hear the words cerebral palsy and, as a parent, it knocks you cold,” Clare recalled. “We’d had no idea what was wrong up until then. He was just this gorgeous, happy little boy, so it was a huge shock.
“It’s heartbreaking watching him battle the symptoms. As parents, Richard and I see Awstin’s frustration, which is really difficult.
“Awstin falls constantly, he’s got no balance. He can’t walk without support, and he cries because he wants to go and walk and play. It is likely he will never play sports.
Eyesight
“His speech is behind other children so we’ll have to see what happens, and he’s awaiting eyesight tests. There is a lot of us having to wait and see.” The condition is incurable and Awstin is still too young for doctors to predict his long-term prognosis. In the meantime, it is managed with medicine, muscle relaxers, massages and physio. But dozens of kids have taken their first steps thanks to pioneering surgery in which nerve endings are manoeuvred to boost mobility. The treatment, called selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR), is more successful in younger patients. Clare believes her son would massively benefit from SDR after liaising with