A little boy with a rare condition which caused his feet to permanently fill up with fluid is standing and toddling along - despite being told he'd never be able to walk. <br /><br />Brodie Arbon-Davis, one, was born with the PIK3CA mutation - leaving him with birth defects including a blood vessel malformation on the bottom half of his body, as well as cysts on his kidneys and thickened bone marrow.<br /><br />This has caused his legs to permanently swell - and scans show he technically only has two toes on each foot. <br /><br />Doctors warned his mum, Holly-Louise Mackie, 26, that the tot would never walk unaided or wear shoes. <br /><br />But despite the odds, Brodie has been able to pull himself up and toddle along while holding on to a walker and furniture. <br /><br />Holly-Louise says her son is “smiley and thriving” - and loves to make people laugh. <br /><br />Holly-Louise, a full-time mum, from Dover, Kent, said: “Brodie was born this way - and it’s a blessing in disguise. <br /><br />"He can’t do the stuff other kids are doing - but he’s thriving anyway.<br /><br />“He’s a strong little fighter.<br /><br />"He seems to be a pusher, he’s ridiculously happy - in fact, the only time I don’t see him smiling is when he’s in pain.”<br /><br />Brodie was born nine weeks prematurely, weighing 5lbs 4oz, on November 26, 2021, after Holly-Louise says she “coughed one day” and her “waters just broke”. <br /><br />Nothing concerning had flagged during scans while she was pregnant and Holly-Louise and and her partner, Liam Arbon-Davis, 27, a builder, believed Brodie's premature birth would just make him “short”. <br /><br />But as soon as Brodie was delivered, his parents could see there was something wrong. <br /><br />She said: “I could see his legs were ridiculously swollen and purple when he was born - at first, I thought it was a port wine stain.<br /><br />“He had to go through so many tests within the first month - no-one knew what was wrong with him. <br /><br />“He had bloods, and they did ultrasounds on his kidneys and a skin biopsy. That was when they found the mutation<br /><br />“The PIK3CA mutation is basically a malformation in the blood vessels - affecting the lower half of his body.<br /><br />“It wasn’t hereditary - neither myself or my partner carried it. It’s what they call a mosaic anomaly - just a freak accident, basically. <br /><br />“It was heart-wrenching - but I loved him to pieces as soon as I first saw him.<br /><br />“He spent a month in the NICU - and doctors found he had deformities on each foot, a build-up of fluid in both legs, cysts on his kidneys and a bone marrow thickening from the waist down.<br /><br />“His legs are in the 0.4th percentile - which means his bone quality is very low. He’ll never be able to walk unaided.” <br /><br />Brodie was allowed home from the NICU on December 23, 2021. <br /><br />But he has regular blood tests in case more of his organs are affected by the mutation - and he has constant access to a ward in case he’s ever ill or in pain.
