My Story

Becoming parents; we knew would be tough, we knew it would be challenging. But above all else, it would be the best thing we would ever do.
Growing into the best versions of ourselves & being a hero or inspiration has always been in my head as being a main goal in the journey of parenthood.
Little did we know, our little dude would be our inspiration. Our little hero.

Given what we had already experienced with a miscarriage, we were already incredibly nervous anyways with the pregnancy. Then to be told at the 20 week scan that our precious jellybean may have something wrong with his foot, it shook us. We weren't prepared for this. All we wanted was our 1 of a kind baby to be healthy & happy, but we were then told during further appointments he was actually 1 in 1000.

That is the statistic we were told. Apparently 1 in 1000 babies are born with clubfoot in the UK. We were given leaflets, help guides etc from Steps Worldwide explaining what it was, the Ponsetti method that would be used to correct his left foot & resources to help us along the way.

Since then, the casting process, his tenotomy. Then came the boots and bar, 23 hour wear for 3 months, then 13 hours a day wear (at bed time) for 4 years. Sounds rough doesn't it? As if a bedtime routine isn't tough enough!

But our son, Elijah Jesse Thornton, smashed it all. Rarely complained, even in the hottest weather. Kept his boots and bar on, had the discipline with us to keep with his schedules & did it all whilst still growing into the lovely young man he is today.

We're so proud of him. He inspired us all the way through & thankfully, he graduated from wearing his BNB at 4.5 years old, signed off by his physio. You wouldn't know anything was ever "wrong".

He lives an active life as we had hoped for. Does his swimming, Evolve classes as well as all the running, jumping & climbing any other kids would do his age.

We are so thankful to his physios at James Cook, the Facebook groups & the ones who helped us in the beginning of this journey, Steps. Support really does make a difference.

And as they say; We are Steps Charity Worldwide and we don't take walking for granted.

So I'm looking to raise money & awareness for this great charity so others can have the same help we did. Not only that, but I want to show our boy that his Dad can take on a big challenge like the Great North Run!

All donations & support are much appreciated. 

Please check out the pictures in my updates below to see our talipes journey with our rainbow baby boy.

Steps is the leading charity working for all those whose lives are affected by childhood lower limb conditions. Everything they do is about valuing and supporting individuals, families and carers affected by conditions which have an impact on the legs, hips or feet.

To find out more, please check out their website: https://www.stepsworldwide.org/about-us/vision-mission-and-what-we-do/

https://www.onein1000.org/