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Your support makes all the difference. Read more A brave schoolboy has been hailed as a ātrue heroā by his mum after having his leg amputated after a horrific battle with Strep A.
Jake Bond, six, was left fighting for his life in hospital after catching the infection last December.
Strep A ā known by its medical term group A streptococcus ā are bacteria found on the skin or in the throat, which can cause disease.
Common symptoms include fever, sore throat, rashes and nausea.
Tragically, after four weeks in hospital, Jakeās condition developed into sepsis.
And despite having two operations to save his leg, heās now had to have a through-knee amputation.
But Jakeās mum Victoria has told how her brave boy is coping with the amputation well and has even nicknamed his stump āPeanutā.
She said: āJake told the surgeons on the day to send his leg up to the rainbow as he wanted it to run free, he also wanted to be free from it and free from pain.
āJake woke up from surgery and wanted to see his stump, he called it Peanut as thatās what it looked like.
āHe is a true hero, he has his good days and bad but his strong, independent self and silly sense of humour has got him through this.ā
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(Victoria Bond/SWNS) Jake was sent home from school on 1 December after vomiting and had a high temperature.
Two days later, he was rushed to Royal Blackburn Hospital, where he would spend the next four weeks fighting for his life.
Victoria says he deteriorated quickly and was put on a ventilator after suffering a respiratory arrest.
Jake was later transferred to Alder Hey Childrenās Hospital in Liverpool, where doctors told Victoria he only had a 5 per cent chance of survival.
Victoria said she feels āluckyā Jake is still alive, despite the fact that he lost his leg.
She said: āHe was not meant to survive and was one of the sickest boys in the hospital.
āWe are so lucky that Jake is still with us and that he survived Strep A, but at the same time he lost his leg.
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(Victoria Bond / SWNS) āHis toes had died back in December when all of this began so we knew some amputation was going to happen, we just didnāt know how much of the leg they were going to save.
āAt that time all that mattered was Jakeās life.ā
The mum-of-two has said Jake is currently waiting to get his bionic leg and that he cannot wait āto be a six-year-old againā.
Victoria, of Clitheroe, Lancashire, said: āJake canāt wait to get his bionic leg soon and hopes to return to school and be able to do all the things he has missed out on.
āHe just wants to be a six-year-old again.
āWe are closing one chapter of Jakeās story and starting a fresh new one.ā
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