HE'S COME SO FAR

Nathan has had five operations on his enlarged foot and his mom is so proud of his progress

- JANA VAN DER MERWE

IT’S an unseasonably cold and foggy morning and the little boy is cooped up inside, using the couch as his play­ ground and clambering all over it, five boisterous dogs in hot pursuit.

Nathan van Aswegen calms down only when his gran Selona van Wyn­ gaard allows him to watch the ani­mated movie Boss Baby on her phone – a rare treat for the energetic three­year­old.

We’re meeting the little boy and his mom, Soné, at his grandparents’ home in Roode poort, Johannesburg.

In most respects, Nathan is a normal little boy, a whirlwind who keeps Soné (20) busy from morning to night. But life has had its challenges for the tot. He was born with webbed toes on his left foot and his family soon realised his foot was growing faster than the rest of his body.

When we visited Nathan for the first time nearly three years ago, his left foot was considerably larger than his right (YOU, 17 August 2017). Soné had been told it was the result of Milroy disease, a condition that causes lymphatic fluid to build up in a limb, resulting in extreme swelling.

But the family were relieved to discov­ er soon after our visit that Nathan didn’t have Milroy disease after all – if he had, it would’ve affected him for the rest of his life. Instead an MRI showed a benign fat­ ty tumour was growing into the tissue of his foot.

Since the new diagnosis Nathan has had five operations to shrink the mass, and all his toes – which used to look like deflated little balloons hanging off his hugely swollen foot – have now been amputated.

But Nathan’s doing well, Soné says. He runs around and is inside today only be­ cause of the weather. “He’s not usually this attached to the phone,” she adds.