Portadown toddler to undergo potentially life-changing surgery
Zoe and Andrew Parkes raised £80,000 their son Ethan's operation
A County Armagh boy with cerebral palsy could be set to walk on his own for the first time ever, as he undergoes pioneering surgery in America.
Four-year-old Ethan Parkes was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was only nine months old.
Devastatingly for his family, the news came just seven months after his twin brother Luke died following complications from a premature birth.
Both boys were born at just 28 weeks.
Ethan has been struggling with chronic pain and poor mobility in his legs for most of his life, due to the condition .
Speaking exclusively to Downtown Cool FM, Zoe explained how it affects her son:
"Really around nine-months-old we discovered that he was diagnosed cerebral palsy and was affected in all four limbs.
"So that actually means that his brain is sending the wrong signals to his lower extremities so they're making his legs stiff and painful.
"He can't walk or stand unaided so it causes a lot of frustration in his life because he can't do the things his brother and sister can do."
He wasn't eligible for an operation which could help him walk on the NHS so Zoe and Andrew launched a fundraising bid to take him to America for the surgery.
The couple exceeded their fundraising target and last week embarked on a trip to Saint Louis, in the hope of changing Ethan's life forever.
Zoe told us why it's so important to give the operation a try:
"I know I'm going into it with my eyes open, I know it's not going to be easy, there's no cure for cerebral palsy but this operation will give him the best chance in life.
"Even if he can transition from sitting to standing or move from one room to the next is absolutely massive and will give him such a sense of freedom, greater independence and reduce his pain long-term.
"I think that will really benefit him because he watches his brother and sister and he sees what they can do.
"So I think we have to push this to get the best possible outcome for him longer term and I have a huge amount of positivity about what potentially, Ethan with his determination and also this pioneering surgery, what benefit that can have in his life."