The mum of a 13-year-old boy who has the body of a toddler has said she wants to highlight unique disabilities.
Tandy Palmes appeared on ITV’s This Morning with her son Angus yesterday and explained that while while his condition is one-of-a-kind, there are thousands of others in his situation.
“I just wanted to bring to everybody’s attention that it’s not just the bog-standard (I don’t want to say bog-standard) syndromes,” she said.
“There are a lot of children with what they call ‘personal syndromes’ who fight a lot of battles because people don’t recognise them and they struggle sometimes to get services.”
Tandy said that she knew something was unusual during her pregnancy with Angus as he couldn’t feel him move as much as she had felt with his older brother, but doctors told her not to worry
When he was born, Angus didn’t respond as expected to tests and after a few weeks, he was found to have a completely unique chromosome abnormality.
Angus has defied the odds just by being able to stand up but requires constant care.
“I just call it a personal syndrome or a happy syndrome because he laughs so much,” said his mum.
“Angus can walk with his hand held and he’ll communicate and take me to what he wants to do or whatever. He can point and touch things but otherwise he doesn’t really gave any comprehension.”
Tandy admitted that she doesn’t know what the future holds for her son but remains positive.
“He’s never going to be able to live an independent life so he’s always going to be dependent on me but we just sort work it out and get on with it.”
Those watching at home were touched by the interview.
“Angus is so sweet and seems like a really happy boy with a great mum!,” wrote one viewer on Twitter.
“Angus is so lovely. Such a short interview. Wanted to hear more from his mum,” said another.
