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Family's plea to help buy tot artificial legs

[email-masked]
29 August 2007

FROM LEFT: Sister Iszanne, mum Carol
and dad Jonathan are campaigning to raise cash for
Harvey’s artifical limbs Picture: Tony Gay

THE FAMILY of an Edmonton baby boy who lost his legs to
meningitis have made an impassioned plea for help to pay for
the artificial limbs he needs.

Harvey Parry, now 22
months old, of Northern Avenue, has been given prosthetic legs
by the NHS but mum Carol says they are bulky, uncomfortable
and leave him unable to walk.

The family have launched
a campaign to raise £16,000 for state-of-the-art limbs from
the renowned Dorset Orthopaedic Clinic, which famously fitted
a leg for Heather Mills, and need another £8,000 to reach the
target. But they estimate they will need from £40,000 a year
for legs as Harvey grows.

Mrs Parry said: "I'm begging
people, please send cheques or knock at the door, I don't care
what time.

"I'm desperate for my son. I will get out
on the street and hold up my placard. My son didn't ask to
have his legs cut off. He's a baby and has his whole life
ahead of him and deserves the best."

She and husband
Jonathan, a carpenter, both 45, have an adopted daughter
Iszanne, 17, but spent 20 years trying for a baby.

Mrs
Parry miscarried eight years ago but gave birth to Harvey in
October 2005 after a difficult pregnancy.

"It was a
gift from God," she said. "I've gone against all the odds and
had a baby. That is why Harvey is special to us."

But
in February, shortly after they bought him his first shoes he
was struck down with meningitis meningococcal septicaemia aged
just 15 months. He was in a coma for three weeks and spent
four months in hospital.

Both his legs and
three-and-a-half fingers on his right hand were
amputated.

At times doctors feared he would die. One
night the hospital chaplain was summoned to his intensive care
bed to baptise and christen him.

"When you are put in
this situation you have to cope," said Mrs Parry, who ran an
online careers magazine. "But there were times when I thought
if he's going to die I can't live.

"Harvey's a little
soldier and such a fighter to survive meningitis that should
have killed him."

In May this year they brought Harvey
home. Now they are battling to raise the money for new
legs.

"The NHS legs are uncomfortable and too bulky and
he can't walk on them," said Mrs Parry. "I would like a pair
of legs that fit, that are near his colour, look like legs and
that is the difference I can get at Dorset.

"It will
mean he will not have a complex about his legs. Dorset are
seven star legs, NHS legs are one star because they haven't
got the time."

The family's campaign has seen them
taking to the streets with placards, including in Wood Green,
where people donated more than £3,000.

"I'd like to
thank the people of Wood Green and Edmonton. One lad gave
£100. A Turkish family gave £5,000. Another boy gave £10. I
can't thank them enough. It's not just black people, it's
every creed and colour."

To donate, visit or write to
the Parrys at 75 Northern Avenue, Edmonton, N9 9QZ, call 020
8482 1603 or go to www.harveyparry-appealfund.com.

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