A baby has been born with back to front legs and no buttocks due to a condition only five people in the UK have.
Baby Baron was born last month to Tracy Fletcher, 39, and her partner Edward. Tracy was told her baby would be severely handicapped when she went for her 20-week scan but she and her partner decided to go ahead and have the baby.
Baron was born without buttocks and with clubbed feet and has no control over the lower half of his spine, hips, bladder or bowels. He has been diagnosed with caudal regression syndrome (CRS).
Tracy, a care assistant from Cheltenham, said:
We want to give Baron the best quality of life as we possibly can. Despite everything he’s been through and what he has to face on a daily basis, he’s turning into the most wonderful little boy.
We don’t want him brought up any differently to any other baby.
After the 20 week scan we immediately started wondering what quality of life he would have and if he’d have a chance of life at all.
The doctor said he’d be severely handicapped, would never walk and would have kidney problems, bladder and bowel problems.
But in the end, we decided to continue and to bring our child into the world.
She had a caesarian section four weeks before her due date to deliver Baron.
She said:
After I came round they asked if I wanted to see him.
As they lifted the screen up, the full reality hit home of what we had to face. He looked a lot worse than we thought, his legs were almost parallel with his shoulders.
It was a very difficult moment and the first time I held him it was quite scary.
A nurse said that in all of her 25 years she’d never come across a baby with the condition.
Immediately after the birth, Baron was put into an induced coma and placed on a ventilator because as his lungs filled with fluid. But after three weeks in the hospital, he was discharged.
Tracy said despite the day-to-day challenges her baby faces, he is developing a unique character of his own. Tracy added Baron will face a challenging future but she wants to give him the best possible life.
