Our Beautiful Bionic Boy ; James has Dazzling Eyes, the Sweetest Smile - and Severe Disabilities in Both Legs. Here His Mother, Sky News Presenter Paula Middleton, Tells How - After Pioneering Corrective Treatment - He Is About to Be Given the New Limb That Will Complete a Truly Remarkable Transformation

Mail on Sunday › December 06, 2009

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Summary

My husband Simon has got used to me forgetting our wedding anniversary, so it was fabulous when, last year, my mother offered to have the children for a few days so we could celebrate. We booked into my favourite spa hotel in Hampshire.

It was just what we needed - for me, a break from live 24-hour news presenting and, for Simon, from the intensity of running his architecture practice. A few weeks later, I found out I was pregnant. I was 44 and already had three beautiful children - Sophie was 11, Joseph nine, and flame-haired Tom just six. News of a fourth came as a complete shock. In fact, after the positive pregnancy test, I could hardly speak and had to ask Sophie to break the news to her dad. She called him at work. 'Daddy, are you sitting down? Mummy's pregnant again.' The first scan at 12 weeks went smoothly and we were overjoyed. Relatives congratulated us and my girlfriends spluttered the foam off their cappuccinos in disbelief.

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Extract

Our Beautiful Bionic Boy ; James has Dazzling Eyes, the Sweetest Smile - and Severe Disabilities in Both Legs. Here His Mother, Sky News Presenter Paula Middleton, Tells How - After Pioneering Corrective Treatment - He Is About to Be Given the New Limb That Will Complete a Truly Remarkable Transformation

The weeks went by and we became more used to the idea of a new baby. But the atmosphere at our 20-week scan was different. There was a problem, the sonographer said. Our baby had club foot, or talipes, where the feet grow in the wrong direction. One foot was definitely affected - the other was folded and tucked underneath his bottom so we didn't know about that one for sure. I sobbed all the way home.

We blamed ourselves for having a baby in our 40s, although we know now that age is not a determining factor. Talipes ...

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