Oscar was born in June 2003 without hands or feet, a short tongue, he also has aortic valve disease, facial palsy and eyesight problems. His disabilities were undiagnosed before birth. Almost immediately he showed a strong character, he was able to lift his head early and push up on his arms when lying on his front. However it was also clear that he was unable to do many things that his peers were able to do such as reach out and pick his toys up. He later learnt to do this using his two wrists but this development was delayed due to his disability.

His facial palsy and short tongue also affected Oscar, his smiling came late, he was 7 months old before he really gave us a good smile and had difficulty feeding because of his tongue.

As a baby he was exceptionally well behaved, he ate and slept well and loved the company of family and friends.

As he grew, he became very hardy and a typical rough and tumble boy, he had to suffer a number of falls or bumps due to his disability and surprised everyone by how well he managed, never without complaining. He got his first pair of artificial legs on the day of his first birthday and walked in them for the first time 6 months later much to our joy. Six months after that he surprised us all by running across the room without his legs on, this then gave his mobility an extra dimension as he is actually more mobile without his artificial legs, but still needs them for most of his activities.

He can now feed himself (usually with a little help), he holds a spoon or fork between the two wrists and spins it round to get it into his mouth – this needs to be seen to be believed. He is learning to wash and dress himself with adaptations to his clothing and likes to take himself to the toilet, although he still needs a lot of help with this.

The thing is he tries really hard to do everything himself and we encourage him to do so, we feel that it is better to have tried and failed than not tried at all so we have stepped back and allowed him to make mistakes without being overly precious about him. As a parent this is one of the hardest things to do, but because of this he now has an exceptionally robust and appealing character, he is out going, funny and loving.

He is learning to swim now and very water confident much to our delight. He loves feeding animals, especially horses. His favourite film at the moment is Treasure Island or Jim Lad as he refers to it. His favourite toys (unfortunately) are swords and guns and would apparently love to be a pirate! He has been an absolute star with his baby brother Max who thinks the sun shines out of Oscar, we feel privileged to be his parents and proud of his achievements so far and feel sure that he will surpass all our expectations in the future.

Lisa & Chris Fradgley (Dec 2006)