Child amputee from Manchester receives world's first paediatric leg cover

Video report by Granada Reports correspondent Mel Barham

Five-year-old Leo White from Greater Manchester has an accessory that no-one else has.

He is the first child in the world to receive a paediatric leg cover for his prosthetic limb - and it is causing quite a stir in the playground.

Claire White, Leo's mum, said: "It is a good ice-breaker for him in the playground or when he meets new people.

"We've always encouraged him to have his prosthetic leg on show - I've been altering his trousers since he was two, just because we didn't want the quizzical stares of 'why is he walking like that?"

Leo White has become the first child in the world to receive a leg cover for his prosthetic limb Credit: ITV

Leo, from Burnage, was born with a left leg 50% shorter than his right leg due to a congenital condition called Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency (PFFD) and Fibular Hemimelia (FH) which were picked up at his mum’s 20-week antenatal scan.

His family and doctors decided that his best option was to have the left leg amputated, which was done when he was 20 months old.

Since then he has worn a prosthetic leg, but the new cover, which he picked with a pokemon design, is a step above anything he has had before.

Leo's new leg cover (on the left) next to his old prosthetic legs without covers on the lower leg Credit: ITV

The cover was the brainchild of artist and former Paralympian Mark Williams, who set up the company Limb Art after his own amputation following a cycling accident.

Mark invented the leg covers after becoming frustrated that conventional artificial legs were designed with a thin stick shape on the bottom of the limb, which were 'aesthetically terrible'.

He said: "When you have a prosthetic leg from the NHS, and you wear suit trousers, your trousers flap around your leg like a flag round a flag pole.

"So I made myself a cover five or six years ago, and it was a little bit of fun to start with.

"But what really triggered it was there was this little four year old boy in Morrisons, I had my Christmas leg on which had LED lights inside it and he said 'hey mister, your leg is really cool', and he was quite disappointed he couldn't have one because he had two legs.

"By the time I got home, I thought god forbid if anything happened to that little four-year-old, at least if he lost his leg he might wake up and think 'I could have flashy legs', so that's really what inspired me to start the business.

"The NHS prosthetic legs are really functional but they just look aesthetically terrible but when you put one of our covers on, it just alters it phenomenally. you get that symmetry in image now."

Leo was offered the cover after attending a camp run by the charity STEPS who work for all those whose lives are affected by childhood lower limb conditions.

Steps CEO, Loredana Guetg-Wyatt, said: "It makes it something that people can look at interested rather than looking at the prosthetic leg in a sad way, whereas when you're wearing something cool like a prosthetic cover it becomes something to talk about but in a positive way rather than negative."

Leo White shows off his new leg cover, with a pokemon design by Limb Art's Mark Williams Credit: ITV

Claire White said: “When Steps mentioned the possibility of a world first paediatric cover for Leo, I showed him some and we both thought they looked great, and it got us excited about how Leo could ‘dress up’ his prosthetic to make it stand out.

“I was already altering his trousers so that his prosthetic would be exposed, this was so that the trouser leg wouldn’t get caught on the metal bar but also because Leo liked having the colour or pattern that was on his prosthetic socket on show.

“The leg cover means that now Leo’s whole prosthetic limb looks incredible. It is a great way to express himself, his individuality, and a big confidence booster as he grows up.

"As soon as he was fitted with it, he started dancing in it with his three-year-old brother Ashley.

Leo chose a pokemon design for his leg cover, which is the first paediatric cover in the world Credit: ITV

“Leo enjoyed the process of being measured and he especially liked the choice in images that he could have. Pokémon was the clear favourite and he loved showing it off to his friends at school.

“We feel very honoured as a family that Leo is the first to receive a paediatric limb cover - Steps and Limb-Art have done an amazing job."

Jamie White, Leo's father said: "It's going to be such a big confidence boost especially the age he's getting to now because we've heard that's the age where kids are becoming a lot more self-conscious so having a positive talking point for him and the kids around him, asking questions about his leg, is going to be such a big deal."

Leo's family say he has always been a confident boy, now he has the leg to match.