Brave Tony Hudgell, five, whose legs were amputated after vile child abuse is walking tall on his first prosthetic legs —as he can now stand shoulder to shoulder with classmates and play football with brother Jaden, 12.
Tony’s legs were amputated at the knee in 2017 because of a violent assault by his birth parents when he was 41 days old.
Since then Tony, who also suffered numerous fractures at their hands, multiple organ failure and sepsis, has worn short prosthetics known as stubbies covered with a Spider-Man design.
He would move on his hands and backside and used a wheelchair and hand-trike. But he became more determined to walk with “proper” legs after seeing young amputees playing football on BBC Children in Need.
Yet Tony, known as Bear, was initially unimpressed with his new limbs because they were yet to be decorated in Batman and The Joker cartoons.
Laughing adoptive mum Paula, 52, of Kings Hill, Kent, said: “He looked at them in silence before giving them a whack, knocking them over, and saying ‘Boring!’
But now they look how he wants. As soon as he was up and about on them a it was incredible to see the immediate difference they made.
When Bear first stood up he gasped in surprise and said ‘Look how tall I am!’
“The fact he wants Batman and The Joker on them perfectly sums up Bear, too. He’s our little superhero who makes us smile from ear to ear. He is walking tall – there’s no stopping him.”
Paula and husband Mark, 55, are confident their youngest of eight kids, who has a permanently dislocated hip, deafness in his right ear and arthritis, will be as determined as ever to overcome any obstacles.
