THE family of a young boy who was born with limb difference have launched a petition seeking for the NHS to offer X-rays for children in similar situations when they are born - after he was recently knocked down and doctors did not know if his arm was already broken.

Eleven-year-old Tommy Dengel, from Royston, was born missing part of his right arm, including his hand and a section below the elbow.

While he now has an advanced myoelectric arm, which responds to muscle signals to function close to the real thing, life hasn’t always been easy for the youngster, and his struggles inspired family to found the LimbBo Foundation to help other children in the same situation.

His grandma, Jane Hewitt, is one of the trustees of the foundation and has now launched a petition which seeks to ensure the NHS offer baseline X-rays for any children with limb differences when they are born.

It comes after Tommy was recently knocked down by a car and, when he received an X-ray to assess his injuries, no-one was able to say whether or not his arm was already broken.

She told the Chronicle: “About four weeks Tommy was involved in an accident and he was rushed to hospital.

“He had a slight fractures in his skull, a bit of a bleed and masses of bruises.

“Thankfully he’s fine now.

“But his ‘little arm’ was swollen so they took an X-ray of it.

“They came back into the room and said to his mum ‘does this look normal to you?’ but she’d never seen the inside of his arm so she didn’t know.

“We’d previously asked at a prostethic visit if we could have an X-ray but were told we don’t need one.

“We didn’t know if this was normal for Tommy or if he’d actually broken his arm.

“So we’re asking for a baseline image - either an X-ray or a scan - which will give parents something to go off.”

Jane says multiple people have been in touch following the petition launch saying they have found themselves in similar situations.

“We’ve looked at it and Tommy hadn’t broken his arm but it looked as though he had,” she said.

“He could have been put in a plaster cast with the best will in the world.

“But unless you know what it’s supposed to look like, how do you known if it’s damaged?

“We’ve written to MPs, the parents at the foundation are behind us and we’re just looking for that extra bit of support.

“We published it at 12pm on Tuesday and by 3pm it had over 270 signatures.”

A link to the petition - https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/770298