Prince Harry is IN AWE OF MY BOY

Despite his extremely rare condition, Ufuoma Anighoro's son Ruky is a true inspiration

- RACHEL TOMPKINS

As a parent, you can only hope to teach your children invaluable lessons that will see them through life, helping to make them better people. But for me, it’s my son who has taught me more than I could have ever imagined. At just 15, Ruky has been through more than most of us do in a lifetime and, quite frankly, I’m in awe of him.

And I’m not the only one – just last year he met Prince Harry at the WellChild Awards and spoke to him with such confidence that the prince himself looked at Ruky with admiration.

I was in the second trimester of pregnancy and at a routine scan when my husband Odafe and I first became aware that something was wrong. A concerned sonographer at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup referred me to King’s College Hospital and the next day I let out a cry of despair as the doctor said our baby had a lot of fluid in his head and his bones were not forming properly. He recommended a termination.

I couldn’t even bring myself to say the word out loud. How could we possibly terminate our baby – the same baby who’d reached his little arm up and waved at us at our first scan? Odafe and I already felt as though he was a part of us, and we quickly resolved that there was no way we could say goodbye to the baby that was already moving so much inside me. We vowed to love him no matter what.

When Ruky was born by caesarean section in March 2009 he weighed a tiny 5lb 8oz. Before I even had a chance to look at him, he was whisked away to NICU. It was the following day before I first saw him in the incubator.

The first thing I noticed was his beautiful big brown eyes and how they followed me when I spoke. He was perfect, but it was clear that there was something seriously wrong. His hands were facing upwards at an unnatural angle and his legs and feet were bowed. Also, his head wasn’t the usual round shape and the soft spot on the top was very large.