Boy with brittle bone disease walks the 100 miles he travels for treatment in Sheffield

Alex Amner has walked more than 100 miles to thank Sheffield Children’s Hospital for treating his brittle bone disease, Catherine Scott says.
Alex Amner decided to walk 100 miles to recreate his journey for treatment at Sheffield Childrens HospitalsAlex Amner decided to walk 100 miles to recreate his journey for treatment at Sheffield Childrens Hospitals
Alex Amner decided to walk 100 miles to recreate his journey for treatment at Sheffield Childrens Hospitals

Alex Amner was three when he fell over and broke his arm. This was his second innocuous injury, having suffered a buckle fracture of his leg when learning to walk at 16 months old.

His mum Sally went to a local paediatrician, who noticed a blue tint to the white in Alex’s eyes. It is a distinguishing feature of type 1 osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), more commonly known as brittle bone disease.

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Despite living more than 100 miles away in Bedfordshire Alex was referred to Sheffield Children’s Hospital, who specialise in brittle bone disease.

“I was in complete shock when he was given the diagnosis, I had never heard of it. We found out later it was caused by a genetic anomaly. Neither his dad, me, nor his brothers are carriers,” says mum Sally

Sheffield Children’s Hospital is known internationally for its specialist treatment of osteogenesis imperfecta. Children come from all over the UK and around the world to see clinicians and the Metabolic Bone Team, which is the largest of its kind in Western Europe.

“When we first got the appointment letter, I had to ring and check they hadn’t made a mistake referring us to Sheffield, as it is over two hours drive away from us. They said the expertise we needed was at Sheffield Children’s Hospital.”

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Alex, now 12, takes Vitamin D supplements and has a high calcium diet to strengthen his bones. He travels every six months to Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

“The care from the Metabolic Bone Team has been amazing, I wouldn’t want Alex to be anywhere else. We’ve decided that if Alex needs more frequent appointments, we’ll move closer to Sheffield rather than move his treatment elsewhere.”

Such was Alex’s gratitude, he wanted to walk the 106 miles to his appointment at Sheffield Children’s.

“Alex said to me, ‘Mum I just want to prove I can do something, and raise some money for the hospital’. But it’s 106 miles as the crow flies and we worked out it would take us around three weeks with lots of overnight stays along the way.”

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Instead, Alex walked the distance in shorter segments around his local area with his mum, raising more than £1,300 for The Children’s Hospital Charity.

www.events.tchc.org.uk/fundraisers/alexamner/teamtheosummerchallenge

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