Help Oscar to continue walking and playing – Daily Record

Brave five-year-old Oscar William is fighting cerebral palsy, with his cheeky grin and infectious personality hiding the fact that the condition is slowly taking his mobility away from him.

But there is a chance the youngster could walk and play like the other children at school as his family are desperately raising money for treatment they cannot get in Scotland.

Oscar was born three months premature and cysts were discovered on his brain, which evolved into cerebral palsy affecting all four of his limbs.

The Parkhead Primary School pupil, from West Calder, uses a walker or a wheelchair to move around.

A crowdfunding page called Oscar Wants to Walk has been set up by his determined family, aiming to raise 25,000 for treatment. So far over 4000 has been raised.

Mum Joanna Robinson told our sister website Edinburgh Live the selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) surgery they are seeking for Oscar has to be privately funded as he does not meet the strict criteria in Scotland.

Along with a lot of physiotherapy, it could help Oscar gain movement in his limbs.

She said: They will look to do it on children who have one or two limbs affected. The less-affected children are more likely to get the surgery.

The outlook for Oscar was not good when he was born three months premature.

Scans revealed his brain was covered in cysts and, while the condition does not affect his cognition, his movement has been impaired.

Joanna said: We were told he would be vegetated and have no quality of life but hes defied the odds. Hes in mainstream education.

Hes the cheekiest wee five-year-old you will ever meet.

She continued: Oscar uses a walker and the spasticity in his body is getting progressively worse. Weve been noticing over the last couple of years hes been losing skills.

I just want to save my son before this takes away all of his independence. I can see it slowly slipping away from him.

He has days where hes in such pain its hard to understand what hes trying to say.

Joanna said she was left heartbroken when Oscar told her: Mum, I want to walk like everyone else.

She said: I dont think any parent should be robbed of their childs first steps.

For him to be accepted by other children and be able to run with his sister would be the most amazing thing in the world.

The family say the surgery will have a greater chance of success if it goes ahead sooner.

If they are able to reach the crowdfunding goal Joanna hopes to set up a trust to help other children in Scotland who have SDR.

To contribute to the crowdfunder go to http://www.justgiving.com/campaign/Oscarwantstowalk.

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Help Oscar to continue walking and playing - Daily Record