Cardiff boy, 7, finally walks after losing both legs aged 3
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Romeo Hadley was three years old when he lost both his legs.
Now seven, after 18 months of hard work, he can walk on prosthetic limbs.
Romeo had complained of leg pains before he was diagnosed with purpura fulminans, a thrombotic condition that causes necrosis and blood coagulation.
"He had to lose his legs to stay alive…. although that sounds devastating and awful we took him home and that was enough for us," explained his mother Katie Hadley, from Cardiff.
The experience of seeing her son so unwell has stayed with her.
"It was horrendous and I will never forget it, and even speaking about it now… we don't speak about it, we stay very positive for Romeo because he is positive," she said.
"He's an amazing little boy who's very very lucky to be alive. So we don't go back to that time to be honest."
Romeo spent six months in hospital before he was able to come home. But adapting to life without his legs was hard.
By October 2017, he was able to stand on his prosthetics but did not enjoying using them at home so Mrs Hadley arranged for him to start taking them into school.
A year later she received a video of Romeo finally walking without a frame with the assistance of his teacher.
"I was blown away," she said.
"My husband and I, our whole family, [my daughter] Seren, everyone, was so emotional to see how well he's done."
"If he can do that now, what can he do in the future?"
Romeo loves playing football and dreams of being a professional basketball player.
"My husband and I are here to just make him psychologically strong enough to cope with life in the future," said Mrs Hadley.
"Romeo loves life, he's gorgeous, and he's absolutely the happiness in this house.
"He gets on with life… he enjoys every single moment."
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BBC
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