Ryan White is four years old but he has never been able to walk, feed himself or put on his own clothes.
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The Wilton boy suffers from Cerebral Palsy Spastic Quadriplegia, a condition which means he has very little functional use of his body.
But there is hope for young Ryan – a “literally life-changing” surgery which will remove the spasticity from his legs and allow him to walk and take control of his movements.
Mum Nadine Kelly said the surgery is only performed on about 10 kids per year in Australia.
“There are so many Australian kids with cerebral palsy and I was pretty much told that Ryan would never get the surgery,” she said.
But the family were not prepared to take no for an answer, so Nadine and Ryan are all set to travel to the US for the same surgery at a cost of $140,000.
They have just passed $80,000 in their fundraising goal.
Mother and son will jet to America on December 7 and Ryan will undergo surgery on December 13.
“There will be several weeks of rehab and recovery after the surgery,” Ms Kelly said. “So we’ll be alone in the US for Christmas and New Year’s.
“It’s going to be very hard. I have a four-month-old at home as well and another daughter who we’re going to miss a lot.
“I will do whatever I can to ensure Ryan has the opportunity to walk, to live without constant pain and to have a hopeful future. Any mother in my situation would.”
Ms Kelly said the impending surgery would make a massive difference to Ryan’s life.
“The surgeons will cut a nerve that will impact the spasticity of his legs, which causes the spasms and the pain,” she said.
“That will leave him with nice floppy legs that have good muscles that will hopefully allow him to build them up and walk.
“Once the spasms have gone from his legs, that will free up his arms and flow on to other parts of his body.”
Ms Kelly said they were “100 per cent” committed to the surgery and looked forward to Ryan’s new life.
Ryan’s child care centre – Big Fat Smile Bingara Gorge – is holding a family fun day on November 10 to help the family raise money.
There will be raffles, kids’ activities and a car boot sale.
Ms Kelly wanted to thank everyone who had already donated to Ryan’s fundraising campaign.
Donate here: https://chuffed.org/project/raising-ryan.