9:00am Thursday 18th March 2010
BRAVE Jacob Houghton is shrugging off his own problems to help others.
The nine year-old from Leigh, who doctors thought might never walk, has entered this weekend's Sport Relief Mile.
And cheering him loudest among his many well-wishers will be his mum and dad Janet and Richard and his 16 year-old brother, Alex.
Janet told the Journal how Jacob underwent numerous tests following his birth on May 8, 2000 and scans confirmed his brain had not developed properly.
She explained: "Genetic screening at 19 months old diagnosed 22Q13 Deletion Syndrome (aka the Phelan-MacDiarmid syndrome) - the 13th child in the UK and one of around 400 people worldwide. It basically means that Jacob has amounts of genetic material missing from his chromosomes.
"He has severe learning difficulties, mobility problems, Autism and no speech. We were told he would probably never walk.
"It was a real bombshell for us initially. We were told he would 'probably never make sense of the world', 'probably never be able to communicate', and 'probably never walk'.
"We've worked hard to push him to try to do things for himself. Our goal is to simply enable him to get around and learn basic skills like washing and dressing.
"Every small achievement he's made means so much, like learning to clap; that took three years for him to master!
"He does find life very confusing. With help from Landgate School we're working on using verbal communicators and picture symbols.
"Because he doesn't understand much of what can be happening, he can display challenging behaviour.
"We work very closely as a family, and praise has to go particularly to Jacob's big brother, Alex. He's a constant help to myself and Richard.
"Thanks to Jacob's physiotherapist, teacher and working closely together with us, he is capable of things we never thought he would do. He can walk unaided (with close supervision), use a cup, feed himself, clap, scream and ask for some things by giving us a picture of what he wants.
Certainly Jacob has proved himself to be a real battler and against all the odds he'll be out this weekend walking and fundraising for charity.
Thanks to people's generous support Jacob already has Sport Relief Mile sponsorship in excess of £300.
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