"IT'S HEARTWRENCHING watching the children run from one end of the playground to the other when Danny only makes it halfway. They all want to run about and he is left on the side-lines."
These are the words of Trewoon father Tom Farlow, while his seven-year-old son plays games at the other end of the living room with the kind of open-mouthed smile and carefree playfulness that adults envy.
Daniel lives with cerebral palsy, a condition that stunts the body's development, caused after he was born eight weeks early and suffered a bleed to his brain. He was 18 months old before he was diagnosed.
"We felt sick for months. You never think your child will be disabled. Never in this world," said Tom, a self-employed builder.
It means Daniel cannot ride a bicycle or swim like some of his friends, he undergoes physiotherapy every day and often has to wear painful splints and plaster casts.
"He's supposed to wear splints every night but he gets cramps and suffers so much we can't bring ourselves to put them on him," said Tom. "People don't see this from the outside. It would be nice for them to understand how much he goes through."
Although mum Karen said he sometimes gets frustrated, Daniel told the Cornish Guardian he is proud to be unique.
"I try to forget about it," he said. "Sometimes I just think there's other things I can do better but sometimes I wish I could do the things I can't. Luckily I have very good friends who look after me."
It's obvious he is a natural entertainer, and his dad said Daniel likes to make light of his differences as a way of coping.
But in midsummer he will undergo a major operation – selective dorsal rhizotomy – to sever spinal nerves. His family hope it will save him from losing the ability to walk when his body goes through puberty because of growth spurts.
"Just seeing him go under [anaesthetic] will be so difficult – walking away from our little guy lying unconscious on a table in the hands of a total stranger," added Tom. "Thank God most parents don't have to deal with that."
But Daniel fearlessly said he's glad he's having it soon – "Because I don't want my legs to go stiff."
His mum Karen said: "It's a bit weird really. We have told him he will have to be in a wheelchair and learn to walk again but he's just concerned with how long he's going to be off school."
This newspaper reported last month that neighbours, in a huge feat of kindness, had set up charity Dare to be Daniel in a bid to raise £25,000 for equipment to support him after his operation, and for modifications to the family home.
"It's pretty awful because the first six months will take his independence away and he will probably hate us for what we've done to him, but he will be better in the future," added Daniel's dad.
Donations can be taken to Trewoon Post Office, or given to Elaine Hamley on 01726 64296.
