Three-year-old Teddy Gorman, from Swansea, who has severe hypotonia and hypermobile joints, took more than 1,000 steps in a robotic walking device during a trial, after his family received a phone call offering him the chance to try new technology.
Teddy, who has very little strength in his legs and is unable to stand independently or walk, has worked with NHS physiotherapists since he was one, and has had private physiotherapy since he was 18 months old.
Phone call changes everything
His mum, Sapphire Gorman, told WalesOnline: "We had a call and saying they had this new robotic technology and they thought Teddy would be a great candidate and invited us to come in for a trial."
She said she was hesitant at first, but she and her husband decided to give it a go. They took Teddy to Ammanford, where he was placed in the Trexo robotic walking device, which supports children with significant mobility difficulties to practise stepping in a safe and supported way.
"Even when they were strapping him in, he didn't cry, he didn't bat an eyelid, he was just all for it. He did really well. He had 25 minutes in it and did more than 1,000 steps," she said.
How the device works
Mrs Gorman explained that the device does not just walk for Teddy. "If Teddy puts in any type of initiation, the device picks that up. On the two sides by his hips, there's two lights, and when the device goes red, that's the device walking for him, and when it goes a purply-blue, that's actually Teddy initiating something."
She described the emotional moment of seeing Teddy take steps: "As parents, seeing Teddy taking those steps, and seeing him upright and smiling and seeing the world in a different light, it was really emotional. Dad cried, and he's a Bonymaen rugby lad who doesn't really get emotional."
Fundraising for his own device
The Winch Wen family now hopes to raise £50,000 so Teddy can have a Trexo robotic exoskeleton walking device of his own. Mrs Gorman said: "Teddy is a little ray of sunshine. He's also completely non-verbal, but is such a happy little soul."
She added: "Every donation, share and bit of support means so much to our family, and 7.5% of all donations to Tree of Hope in relation to this appeal will be allocated to the general charitable purposes of Tree of Hope to cover our core operating costs. If we raise insufficient funds, or surplus funds, then the funds will be used, if appropriate, to fund support for our child's needs."
Because the device has just been approved, it is not available on the NHS, which the family understands. Mrs Gorman said Teddy has had an MRI, and it is not cerebral palsy, brain damage, or neurological. "Because it is low muscle tone, me being mum, you think, people go to the gym to work on such things, and so, it is about raising the funds so that he can use it for a couple of hours a day and build up his muscles in the hope that, touch wood, he will be able to walk independently one day."
