Disabled Littlehampton boy given the gift of comfort

Brave Matty Van den Dyck, four, has an undiagnosed neurological disorder, retinal dystrophy and central hypotonia – a condition which affects muscles throughout his body. On top of this, he also suffers from regular seizures and needs round-the-clock care.

But one of the biggest frustrations for Matty and his loving family is his inability to communicate with them, to let them know if he is in discomfort.

However, comfort need not be an issue any more, after members of Arundel Rotary Club were touched by the youngster’s tale – so much so that they put their hands into the group’s fund-raising kitty to pay £600 for a state-of-the-art seat for him.

Matty’s mum Abi, who lives with her husband, Keith, and Matty’s older brother, Josh, at their home in The Saltings, said: “We are so grateful to the Arundel Rotarians for their kindness, support and funding for this chair and can’t thank them enough, it really has made a big difference to Matty’s comfort and to our lives as we know he is safe in this chair.”

She added: “Matty has an undiagnosed neuromotor disorder. We’ve been searching for a diagnosis for four years but we are still none the wiser. His condition is classed as a ‘SWAN’ (syndrome without a name).

“He is severely disabled and cannot walk, talk or communicate and is wheelchair-bound.

“He is a very happy little boy and loves being with his family. He gets spells of illness and regular sleepy episodes where we don’t just want to put him upstairs in his bed away from family, so this chair means his posture can be supported, allowing Matty to get the rest he needs while still being with us.”

The seat, known as a P-Pod, has been specially engineered to assist disabled children with their posture.

Keith Boyd-Seymour, president of the Rotary club, said he was glad to give Matty and his family the support they needed.

“We were all touched by Matty’s story,” he admitted. “We love to help out local causes and local people as much as possible.

“We’re glad that the support the P-Pod is giving Matty is making a real difference to his and his family’s life.”

The family are in the process of raising £78,000 to improve their home and give Matty a better quality of life.

Their aim is to redevelop the downstairs of their home, transforming areas into a sensory environment for Matty, as well as giving him a ground-floor bedroom and wetroom, and improving wheelchair access throughout their home.

Abi said that, with the support of the community and various charitable organisations, they had now almost reached their target and hoped to begin work on their home, later this month.