Book published by Tiptree author to help raise funds for local boy with multiple disabilities

A local author has published a book to help raise funds for a seven-year-old Tiptree buy with multiple disabilities.

Melissa Ford, who also lives in Tiptree, published The Tale of Lucky, the Tiptree Chicken earlier this month. Illustrations are by Jacqueline Murphy.

Alexander Liggins, 7, who lives in Tiptree was born 16 weeks premature when his parents Alison and Matt were on holiday in Mallorca.

Alex’s mum Alison, 44, a merchandiser said: ‘It was quite a shock when Alex was born, we’d only arrived in Mallorca six hours earlier! We were eventually repatriated back to the UK after 9.5 weeks. Alexander stayed in hospital for another 6.5 weeks, and then we finally came home!’

‘All was going well until, at 9 months old, he developed infantile spasms, which is a rare form of epilepsy that causes developmental delays.

‘We stayed in hospital for a month while we tried to gain control, and we did have a brief spell in remission, only for Alex to relapse again a couple of months later.’

‘Alexander is non-mobile, non-verbal and PEG fed. He was having up to 300 spasms per day at one point but this is now under better control. The main problem at the moment is dystonia, which is restricting the little movement he has as his left hip has become dislocated due to his muscles pulling it out.’

‘In spite of this he is a happy little boy who loves to be outside, socialising, enjoys school and loves hydrotherapy and being in the water.’

Friends and family have already rallied around raising funds through events including a 100K run and half marathon. The family are currently prioritising raising money for therapies to ease Alexander’s dystonia and future house adaptations.

The Tale of Lucky, the Tiptree Chicken, aimed at children aged 2 to 6, can be ordered from Amazon and costs £8.99 https://amzn.eu/d/00KR0eOJ

The family is being supported by children’s charity Tree of Hope, which helps families raise money for children and young people like Alexander for medical treatments and healthcare services not freely available to them through the NHS and social care. The charity provides fundraising guidance, campaign development, financial management, charity registration and emotional support from the Family Support team. Families like Alexander’s benefit from having the support, tools and resources to fundraise effectively as well as access to gift aid, corporate support while also providing donor reassurance.

To donate to Alexander’s fund https://www.treeofhope.org.uk/get-involved/childrens-campaigns/alexander-the-brave/