THE parents of a nine-year-old boy from Middlewich have been forced to fundraise for his Cerebral Palsy treatment after he was dropped by the NHS.


Ben Baddeley was born with Spastic Diplegia Cerebral Palsy, and defied medical experts by building up enough strength to walk by the age of four.


However the amount of pressure on Ben’s bones meant that he needed a special spinal operation to keep him from being in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.


After two years of gruelling pre-operation treatment to get Ben’s body ready for the surgery, the NHS pulled the funding with just four days to go.


Ben’s parents Amy and Gary Baddeley, were forced to take the problem into their own hands to save their son from a lifetime of pain and managed to raise £20,000 for his surgery, which went ahead in Nottingham in July.


But without two years of intensive rehabilitation the surgery would have been for nothing, and the NHS are now refusing to fund the rehab because the operation was self-funded.


Ben’s mum Amy Baddeley, who is a former pupil of Wimboldsley Primary School and Middlewich high, says the family now have no choice but to raise the money again.


Amy said: “We as Ben's parents had no choice but to fundraise for Ben’s £20,000 operation and we finally hit the target in June.


“Now that Ben has had his surgery he is a much happier little boy because he has no pain in his body.


“But because we were forced to self-fund the surgery the NHS now will not treat Ben and without the rehab this surgery is useless to Ben so we have no choice but to push and try our hardest to raise the funds.”


Bentley Motors, where Ben’s dad Gary works have donated £1,000 towards the treatment and the family will be doing various fundraisers for the treatment costs.


To help with fundraising, contact amybaddeley84@hotmail.com.