Child amputees' call for NHS Wales-funded sports blades

Danielle Sparks' baby daughter Freya was born without shin bones and knees - a condition known as tibial hemimelia.

In the next few months, she will have both her legs amputated and her mother said she has been left not knowing if Freya will get sport prosthetics on the NHS in the future.

Running blades are not routinely available on the NHS in Wales.

It has prompted the one-year-old's parents to call on the Welsh Government to fund child sports prosthetics.

The Welsh Government said it was considering how to make them available.

Ms Sparks said not knowing whether her daughter will get sport prosthetics on the NHS in the future is "another pressure on us".

"She doesn't know if she is going to enjoy dancing, swimming, or running," she said.

"You don't know until you try it and you can't try it without the right equipment."

Rebecca Roberts, from Prestatyn, has submitted a petition to the assembly's petition committee asking for funding in Wales.

Her four-year-old daughter Elizabeth was born with bones missing in her legs and had a double amputation after her first birthday.

She was fitted with prosthetic legs, which her family said are quite "heavy and stiff".

"She's always just slightly slower than [her friends], a little bit behind them because her legs... She can't run at the moment," her mother said.

Ms Roberts said specialist sport prosthetics would make a huge difference to her daughter and other amputees across Wales.

"There's a handful of children who've lost legs in Wales. It is not going to cost millions of pounds to implement this scheme," she said.

"We only get one childhood and that childhood should be spent being as active and having as much fun as possible and to me if having one extra pair of legs or one extra prosthetic leg can help a child get to grips with bouncy castles, trampolines or keep up with their friends in the park, to me that's a price worth paying."

Last year a BBC Midlands viral video captured the joy of a seven-year-old girl with a new NHS-funded "blade" running round the school playground with her friends.

The cost of a blade, together with the follow-up training and assessment, is estimated at around £1,000, but it could be several times that amount in the private sector.

In April this year, the UK government announced an extra £1.5 million for a fund that provides sport and activity prosthetics to children in England.

It said the money has helped more than 200 disabled children since it started in March 2016, and has funded research to improve technology and innovation.

A spokesman for the Welsh Government confirmed "whilst a wide range of prosthetic equipment is provided on the NHS in Wales, currently, specialist sport prosthetics for children are not funded".

"We recognise the importance of specialist sports prosthetics for helping young people to be active and are currently considering how we can make them available," he said.

The spokesman added if there are "exceptional reasons for providing other equipment, then an Individual Patient Funding Request (IPFR) can be made".