The parents of a little boy who suffers with constant pain said they are doing "everything" for their son.
Oliver Forsyth, from Norris Green, was born premature at 30 weeks. An MRI scan later confirmed Oliver had damage to the back of his brain which impacts his mobility skills and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy in 2019.
Cerebral palsy is the name for a group of lifelong conditions that affect movement and co-ordination. How someone is affected will depend on the type of cerebral palsy a person has and how much of their body is affected.
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Oliver's mum, Catherine O'Gorman, said doctors have told her and her partner Richard Forsyth that the schoolboy will be non-mobile in the aspect of walking. The five-year-old also suffers with constant pain due to spasticity in his legs.
Speaking to the ECHO, mum Catherine said: "Oliver gets Botox injections every three months into his legs, but obviously to go through that it is very traumatic for me and him. I have to restrain him and he gets eight injections in his legs.
"It is heartbreaking and we can't keep on doing that. The Botox only lasts eight to 10 weeks, so we have four weeks when he is in severe pain with his legs. Oliver has spasticity in his legs, which causes him to shudder and cross his legs over so he can't do things independently.
"We have been told Oliver will be non-mobile in the aspect of walking. As a family we have come to terms with that, as that is what you do."
After numerous meetings with medical professionals, Oliver has been given the opportunity for an operation which will remove the pain and discomfort and he will not require any further injections throughout his life. This surgery is called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy [SDR].
It involves cutting into Oliver's spine and removes the nerves in his legs that cause the spasticity and the five-year-old will require six weeks of rehabilitation after the surgery. To receive the operation on the NHS, children need to be in level two or three of the Gross Motor Function Classification System.
Unfortunately, Oliver is classified at level four and therefore the operation for the schoolboy cannot be funded on the NHS. The family have now setup a GoFundMe page and will be holding events in the hopes of raising the funds for the operation.
Catherine said her son is "such a happy little boy", despite the constant pain Oliver is in everyday.
She said: "Oliver goes to a special needs school and since he has gone to school it is the best thing for him. He just loves school and he is so happy in school and the support I get from them is fantastic.
"He is such a happy little boy. He never sleeps, he doesn't sleep obviously because he is in so much pain with his legs."
She added: "Oliver is such a happy little boy, he loves being outdoors, playing, his communication has come on fantastic. When he is pain everything goes back, he regresses and struggles to obviously develop.
"Me and his dad are so proud of him. He never cries, he does not cry, he is such a happy child. Oliver loves swimming but to enjoy swimming he's got to not be having that spasticity.
"We are so proud of him and he has come on so much. Every appointment, and we have numerous appointments a month for him, he does not moan, gets on with it and takes everything in his stride."
Due to the severity of the spasticity in Oliver's legs, it has caused his hip to come out and he will need an operation when he is seven-years-old to alleviate this. Catherine said they hope to have the SDR operation before this so it is not a "vicious cycle".
The family said they are doing "everything" they can so Oliver can live a life with minimal pain.
Professional MMA fighter Danny Dixon will be raising money for the family by flip a tyre to the top of Moel Famau in Wales on Sunday, February 26. To donate to Oliver's GofundMe page, please click here.
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