Footy fan Cieran Kelso is able to kick a ball for the first time – after his family bought him NEW LEGS.
The brave six-year-old lost his limbs below the knee to meningitis at just 13 months old. He had only been walking for a week.
In June last year, his dad Gary and stepmum Gemma Burnett began a fundraising drive to help lively Cieran have the prosthetic legs.
Gemma said: "Some people say why not wait until he stops growing before getting the new legs, but we can't wait until he's 18 or 19.
"What sort of a life is he going to have up to then? He wants to keep up with his mates.
"The NHS ones were so heavy and cumbersome he couldn't wear from for more than an hour a day. Now he's running around all day."
Cieran was given just hours to live after he was struck down with the potentially deadly disease as a baby.
He pulled through, but spent over seven months in hospital and had to have both legs amputated below the knee.
He also lost the tips of most of his fingers. He was later fitted with false legs and given a wheelchair to help him get around as he grew older.
But the NHS-issued prosthetic legs were cumbersome and had no ankle joints, meaning that Cieran could only wear them for a few hours at a time, was unable to climb stairs and struggled to kick a ball around.
Despite his disability, the brave youngster adored sports, especially football and gymnastics, and would simply take his uncomfortable false legs off to compete in school sports days and play football with his pals.
But now, after his dad, Gary, 34, and stepmum, Gemma, 28, spent months fundraising on his behalf, Cieran has a pair of custom-made, lightweight legs, with a fully bendable ankle joint.
The schoolboy from Northwich, Cheshire, took receipt of his new £7,500 limbs in February, and since then his confidence has soared, as he is able to wear them all day and enjoy a proper game of football, like his idol, Liverpool striker Steven Gerrard.
Cieran's new legs are lightweight but robust, have much more movement in the ankle socket and can be altered to almost grow with him for about a year.
Gemma told her local newspaper: "The new legs are uncomfortable for him at the moment because they're tighter.
We compared it to the old ones being like a pair of old welly boots that are too big and he's been sloshing around but now he's gone to ones that fit perfectly.
"They're built to fit on his legs – the old ones kept falling off but these won't fall off.
Gemma told Parentdish: "His dad's 6ft 3in so we're expecting to have to buy a lot more legs for Cieran as he grows. We're hoping he'll get at least a year out of these before a growth spurt."
The couple's long-term fundraising goal is to go on and help other children in Cieran's position.
They have set up the The Cieran Kelso Fund to continue fundraising. You can also email cktf.events@mail.com.