Luca is our 18 month twin boy from Greater Manchester who unfortunately had to fight for the first 10 months of his life. In that time Luca became seriously poorly and ended up with NEC, a serious illness in which tissues in the intestine become inflamed and start to die, Sepsis twice and Meningitis 4 times.

We are very lucky to have him here with us today.

From this Luca has now been left with brain damage (PVL and Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy), is global development delayed and is yet to be able to sit unaided completely, talk, stand or walk. Lucas legs are extremely stiff which is why this SDR surgery is a must. We are aiming for him to hopefully have the surgery when he turns 3.

SDR surgery (Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy) corrects muscle spasticity by cutting the nerve rootlets in the spinal cord that are sending abnormal signals to the muscles. However, it is yet not fully available on the NHS in the UK. Alder Hey offer this on the NHS if you are grade II or III on the Gross Motor Functional Classification System (GMFCS) but if you are grade IV and V it is £16,000 towards the cost of the surgery.

In addition, intensive physiotherapy which is needed before and after the surgery is not funded completely on the NHS so therefore, we need to try and raise as much money to be able to offer this to our precious boy.

Luca is pointing towards a grade V as he is still unable to stand unaided or walk but due to him being young still that could change. However, for now we want to be prepared and make sure Just4Children have the funds to be able to give this boy a life changing op! Our journey with Alder Hey Hospital starts with an appointment on 10th may this year.

This is something that gives us so much hope that one day soon Luca may be able to stand and walk completely unaided. Luca deserves this after such an awful start to his life. So, this really would be life changing!

Lets give this amazing hero a great chance in life!

Thank you so much for taking your time in reading Luca's story.