The family of a four-year-old Plympton boy who suffers from spastic cerebral palsy have been told that the NHS will after all pay for his potentially life-changing surgery.
In May last year the family of Fynn Fleming met with consultants at Bristol Royal Children’s Hospital to see if he was a suitable candidate for Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR). SDR is the dividing and cutting of nerves in the spinal cord. They were told that they needed to continue with Fynn’s physiotherapy to strengthen his core, but that he was an excellent candidate.
Cerebral palsy makes life extremely difficult for Fynn. The condition makes his muscles stiff and his movements stiff and jerky. His increased muscle tone can make movements difficult and sometimes impossible. Fynn finds it hard to sleep at night due to painful muscle spasms which is only partially alleviated by medication.
Despite this he still needs turning over because he is just too exhausted, as the day’s exertion make it just too much for him. This quite often leaves Fynn very tired and aching the next day, when the cycle begins again.
Fynn is a twin and tries extremely hard to do the same things as his brother Leo.
The operation would mean that most of his painful spasms would cease and that this would lead to him hopefully walking unaided. However, they were told that the surgery was at that time not funded on the NHS and that they would have to pay for it themselves.
His parents Ollie and Katie Fleming then launched an appeal to raise the £38,000 needed for the operation – and received fantastic support from friends, family, businesses and other organisations.
Among these was a recent donation of £500 which was made by the Lions Club of Plymouth. The appeal has raised over £16,000 in the last year.
The family recently received the news that the critical nature of Fynn’s condition means that the operation will now be funded by the NHS. It is expected that the operation will take place in November.
