A MUM hopes specialist alternative treatments will give her disabled toddler son the ability to use his right arm and to walk properly - but it isn't funded by the NHS.
Emma Phipps's son Layton, who is almost two, was born with meningitis and suffered a stroke at birth, which led to cerebral palsy.
Emma, 24, of Harold Avenue, Lundwood, says he can't walk properly and can't use his arm. He can't sleep properly and has to take various medications every day.
She believes pressure treatment in an oxygen chamber, known as HBOT therapy, will help heal his brain and release tension in his muscles allowing him better movement and better sleep.
It costs £1,500 a year including transport to the centre in Morecambe where the treatment is carried out, and he will need it for three to four years.
Emma said: "It was a doctor at the hospital who recommended it. He uses it for his own son, but it's still classed as an alternative therapy so the NHS won't fund it."
Emma also wants Layton to have ABR therapy, an intensive form of physiotherapy, but that will cost £5,500 for 12 months' treatment in Scotland.
"I've seen a video where they've had kids who couldn't move their arm and they've got them throwing a ball."
Emma, who has three other children aged seven, five and three, is a hairdressing student at Barnsley College.
Her fellow students and tutors dressed up in 50s' outfits and hairstyles for the day on Monday and held a charity event in the Images salon, based in the college.Student Victoria Slide said: "We just want to do anything we can to help."
