A BRAVE four-year-old boy, who had his legs amputated below the knee during a battle with meningitis, is set for more operations.

Little Louie Jenkins from Colne has already undergone surgery to amputate his legs and fuse his bones, but specialists are planning a major operation to stretch his thigh bones, which will enable his legs to remain in proportion with the rest of his body as he grows into an adult.

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The determined youngster, who is currently on his ninth pair of prosthetics legs, learnt to walk unaided using prosthetic legs at the age of two.

His mum Julie Green, said: “We have found out that he will need a few more operations within the next couple of years.

“As he’s getting bigger and he’s having operations it’s going to get harder for him to get up and stairs.

“The bones in his knees have been damaged quite a lot by meningitis.

“The tops of his legs are growing but the bottoms remain the size of a three-year-old.

“The plan is to stretch the bones in his thighs so as he grows the bones that he currently have will be bigger and longer so they will accommodate the size of his body as he grows.”

To try and make the wheelchair user Louie’s life easier as he goes through his operations his mum successfully applied for a £30,000 county council grant to modify their Chatham Street home to install a wet room and bedroom downstairs.

But that still left them with a £10,000 shortfall and the family and community have been undertaking fundraising efforts ever since.

Miss Green, 33, said: “At the moment Louie has a bedroom but it’s upstairs and the bathroom in our house is upstairs as well.

“Although he tries his hardest, as his mother I see that some of the simplest tasks are a struggle for him, and climbing up and downstairs being his hardest and most frustrating challenge to date.

“The grant from Lancashire County Council is capped at £30,000.

“When they came around to measure up the planned bedroom would have literally had room for just a bed in it. There would have been no room for a turning circle for his wheelchair. In my view that wasn’t suitable for a child to grow up in to an adult.

“We have the room in my back garden to go out an extra metre so the council are doing all the planning for it but they said we would have to pay the £10,000 it will cost.

“We have had planning permission but we’re just waiting for building control consent. Once we have that and we have raised the money the work can start but not until then.”

In May, Louie, a pupil at Barrowford Primary School, took part in a fundraising walk which raised £6,000 and last month Colne Spiritualist Church held a charity evening which raised £1,060, while Birchall Catering hosted an afternoon tea at Barrowford Lifestyle Festival which also raised £1,000.

Birchall Catering and Carousel clothing is hosting a fashion show on September 29, while Birchall Catering will hold a ball on November 12. Both events will take place at Birchall Foodservice, Burnley Bridge Business Park, Hapton.

Miss Green said: “Any parent wants to make life as comfortable as possible for their child and this is what the donations will allow me to do.

“The support we have had from the community has been overwhelming.

“As a parent that works full-time as a carer for Louie I am not in a position where I can say I will find the money. It’s amazing to think people are so touched by his story and want to help.”

Maureen Askew, a committee member at the spiritualist church which previous raised £1,600 for Louie’s prosthetics, said: “We always try to help with fundraising when we can and this was a fantastic cause. I would like to thank everybody who helped.”

To donate visit www.gofundme.com/p7o1yk.