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Sunday, July 06 2008 This Morning = 16=B0C This Afternoon 18=B0C = = 5-Day Forecast

NHS threatens to stop two-year-old's treatment - because parents = want to buy=20 him new legs from the U.S.

By Arthur=20 Martin
Last updated at 12:16 AM on 21st June 2008

Comments=20 (3)
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All he wants to do is jump in puddles with his friends.

But Harvey Parry, who lost his legs to meningitis a week after = starting to=20 walk, faces a lifetime of uncertainty.

The NHS has threatened to halt part of the two-year-old's treatment = because=20 his parents plan to buy him a new set of legs through a private = healthcare=20 company.

=20

Uncertainty: Two-year-old Harvey Parry lost both = his legs=20 and part of his hand after he contracted meningitis, but the NHS has = threatened=20 to stop treatment if his parents buy him new legs through a US = healthcare=20 company

Ever since doctors had to amputate both legs and part of his right = hand in=20 March 2007, the NHS has been trying to find suitable replacement = legs.

All those offered to Harvey did not fit or did not work properly.

His 46-year-old parents Carol and Jonathan, who are full-time carers, = then=20 began a campaign to raise money for state-of-the-art limbs from a clinic = in the=20 U.S.

But if the =A325,000 legs are fitted privately, Enfield Primary Care = Trust in=20 North London, said it would no longer provide ' support or maintenance' = for=20 them.

The case echoes the problems of cancer patients where NHS treatment = is=20 withdrawn when a patient pays privately for drugs.

Harvey's parents, who live in Edmonton, have decided to go to America = and=20 risk losing NHS support.

'I'm so very angry,' Mrs Parry, 46, said.

'At the moment he has to scrabble around on the floor.

'All he wants to do is put his Wellington boots on and splash in the = puddles=20 like other children.

'But he can't because the NHS doesn't have the right legs.

'We are going to New York and my son will come back walking.

'We'll worry about the consequences of this decision later.'

Harvey was struck down with meningitis at 15 months. He was in a coma = for=20 three weeks.

When he left hospital he was given false legs, but they were too = big.

Every time a pair of legs was made for Harvey, there was something = wrong with=20 them.

Enfield PCT said it would treat Harvey but would not 'provide any = support or=20 maintenance to prostheses supplied in America'.

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