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Highland family must raise £80,000 to allow son to walk for first time

Youngster Kayden Gordon
Youngster Kayden Gordon

A Caithness family are attempting to raise £80,000 for their three-year-old son to be able to walk for the first time.

Kayden Gordon was diagnosed with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy when he was just 15 months old.

The condition means that the muscles in his legs are so tight that he is unable to do simple things like walking unaided or even sitting on the floor with his legs straight.

He currently moves with the aid of a walking frame and is able to drag himself around on his knees.

But the Gordon family are now battling to raise £80,000 to send Kayden to a clinic in St Louis, Missouri, which offers a life changing operation which could see him take to his feet properly for the first time.

His 23-year-old mother Sarah Gordon, father Alan Malcolm, 28, and the whole family are raising funds to allow him to have a selective dorsal rhizotomy, an innovative process which involves vertebrae being removed from the lower back in order for electrical pulses to be sent through the nerves affecting the stiff muscles.

The process is only available in the UK to a limited extent at the Great Ormond Street Hospital but is regularly performed by Dr Tae S Park in Missouri, with many children travelling from the UK to undergo the process.

The family have raised around £9,000 towards their goal, with support from the Tree of Hope charity which supports children who need to travel for specialist medical treatment. His parents have a number of ideas for raising more funds towards the cause.

Sarah Gordon said: “Most of the time he’s just a happy little boy. He’s a brilliant big brother to his little sister (11-month-old Kiri).

“He just gets on with things. It would mean the world to us if he gets the operation.”

Also taking on the fundraising challenge is Kayden’s grandfather Brian Gordon, 47, who has taken to returning home from work as a driving instructor at lunchtime to bake tablet to sell at stalls.

He and other members of the family have also taken up running to raise funds, with a plan to complete a 10k race next month. Brian Gordon said: “We couldn’t live with ourselves if we didn’t take the opportunity and do something to make it happen.”

Donations to Kayden’s appeal can be made at www.justgiving.com/Kaydenswish2walk or by texting kden80 followed by the amount you wish to donate to 70070.