For getting on for ten years, I have been dealing with DDH with my son, Lucas.

He has had a harness, an open reduction, closed reduction, femoral osteotomy, pelvic osteotomy, and had two hardware removals, he's spent months and months in body casts, three months in a wheel chair and has used one golden frame to help him walk after his pelvis was broken and reconstructed.

He is now nine and he doesn't have perfect hips but he is perfect to me and us and he is the reason why DDH UK exists and supports thousands of people around the world who are navigating the murky waters of this life changing and very challenging condition.

When your child is in a cast trying to get them in a buggy, highchair or car seat is near on impossible. Imagine a cast that covers them from nipple to toe and has a pole from knee to knee? Imagine them being able to sit and eat their breakfast or lunch at the table, watch their favourite TV show on the sofa or play Mario at the table.

It is pretty impossible and people have to get by as best they can with beanbags, trays and the floor, or if they have the funds, a spica chair.

However, these cost over £468- way more than your highchair of booster.

The NHS do an amazing job but these chairs are in high demand so this Christmas we are asking you to help us to raise as much money as we can to ensure that children can carry on with a normal life even when they are in a cast.

Our of our fundraising we have purchased one chair for the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, but we would like to be able to buy more.

DDH isn't something any of us are prepared for, it tests you, it sees your child in pain and struggling and your wider family can be left feeling helpless.

At DDH UK we want to make sure that no one feels the way I did as I sat crying on the kitchen floor with my 4 month old not knowing where to go or what was going to happen or how I was going to cope when he was in a cast which makes life feel pretty impossible.

I know we all have lots to pay for now, but even £1 will help ensure a child can eat their dinner the way they should and have a decent quality of life as they spend months and months in a spica cast.

You can see more about our work at www.ddh-uk.org

Thank you for me, Lucas all of DDH UK

xxx