A baby has spent half of his life in leg casts after he was born with his feet - turned inward.<br /><br />Baby Malakai Kade Sanders, four months, has spent the first eight weeks of his life in casts to straighten out his little legs.<br /><br />Parents Kayla McHugh and Trai Jayden Sanders, both 27, found out their son had club foot, also known as Talipes, at 20 weeks pregnant.<br /><br />Club foot is a deformity in which an infant's foot or feet are turned inward.<br /><br />Mum Kayla said her "heart sank" when doctors revealed the diagnosis.<br /><br />She said: "It was extremely frightening, confusing and difficult to go through.<br /><br />"Our biggest concerns and worries were what Malakai’s future was going to look like. <br /><br />"Will he be able to walk? Will he be able to run one day?"<br /><br />Since he was born, Malakai has had surgery on his feet and ankles, spent eight weeks in casts and will now have to wear special boots to help re-position his legs. <br /><br />There's still a long road ahead for Malakai but parents Kayla and Trai are hopeful and say Malakai's future "actually looks really great."<br /><br />Kayla, an early life educator from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia found out about the irregularity during an ultrasound scan 20 weeks into her pregnancy.<br /><br />The parents, who already have two children Jye, six, and Nixon, two, "knew something might not be quite right" when the technician changed the conversation during the scan. <br /><br />The diagnose wasn't immediately revealed to the parents and doctors had to run additional tests to confirm the condition<br /><br />After a tense four-week wait for the results, the diagnosis was confirmed. <br /><br />Kayla said she was "devastated, alone and so scared."<br /><br />She added: "We had never dealt with anything like this before so it was a very new unknown territory for us.<br /><br />"We wondered if he’d get picked on for his condition and if it would cause him any serious grief as he got older."<br /><br />As soon as the diagnosis was confirmed, Kayla and Trai learnt everything they could about the condition and met up with a physiotherapist. <br /><br />So when Malakai was born they were ready to face the challenge.<br /><br />As soon as the young boy was born, he underwent six weeks of casting to re-position his little legs. <br /><br />He then went on to have a procedure called a tenotomy followed with further casting.<br /><br />A tenotomy is a procedure where an injured tendon is cut into to relieve pressure. <br /><br />In Malakai's case this was on his feet and ankles.<br /><br />Once his tendons had healed and his final casts had been removed, Malakai was then put into a special pair of boots for 23 hours a day.<br /><br />The Ponsetti boots are specially adapted with a bar to re-position the legs of the affected person.<br /><br />Malakai will have to wear the boots until he is five years old and gradually reduce the hours he wears them a day.<br /><br />Despite all the heartache and stress for Malakai and his parents, they say his future looks good and they're looking forward to it as a family.<br /><br />Kayla said: "Malakai’s future actually looks really great.<br /><br />"Malakai may still need to undergo more procedures
