P-05-817 Specialist prosthetics for child amputees
This petition was submitted by Rebecca Roberts having collected 116 signatures.
Text of Petition
We call on the National Assembly for Wales to
urge the Welsh Government to ensure that funding is in place to
enable each child amputee in Wales to have access to a specialist
sports prosthetic.
We welcome the news that Westminster have made a further £1.5
million available to develop specialist prosthetics for young
amputees in England.
We ask that the same level of support be made available to children
and young people living in Wales, so that any child or young person
who would benefit from having a specialist sports prosthetic is
able to have one made by the NHS.
Additional
information
Petitioner’s
story
My daughter was born with a rare condition called Fibular
Hemimelia, meaning a total absence of fibular bones. She has the
rarer version of it, which affects both legs. A few days after her
first birthday she underwent a double amputation at Alder Hey
hospital. A few months later she attended the Limb Centre at
Wrexham Maelor to fit her first pair of prosthetic legs.
We have never had anything other than excellent and skilled service
from the staff at the Centre; but her prosthetic legs are by
necessity, heavy and rigid. She can walk, but slowly. She can
climb, but with difficulty. She has never known what it is to run
as fast as she can, to be able to ride a bike, or to keep up with
her cousins as they race around the park. She has overcome so many
challenges in her short life, but she faces many more.
As a parent my wish is that she can be the best version of herself;
that she can play without struggling to keep pace with her peers
and that she can participate fully in all aspects of life.
Soon she will be old enough for specialist prosthetics. If they
were available to her on the NHS it would make a world of
difference to her as she goes about her daily life.
I know other child amputees in Wales are facing similar struggles,
and I believe that our children are as deserving of the specialist
support as English children. Westminster has just released an
additional £1.5 million funding to help English amputees. The
number of child amputees in Wales is much smaller than in England,
but their needs are the same. We’re not asking for millions,
just for equality.
My daughter will spend her entire life wearing prosthetic legs.
Specialist support could make a huge difference to her as she grows
up. Please don’t deny her and other Welsh amputees the
support offered to English children.
Assembly Constituency and Region
· Vale of Clwyd
· North Wales