At just 18 months Alfie was diagnosed with an ultra rare condition that means eating a burger or even drinking too much milk could be fatal.
Alfie suffers from a rare condition that means eating a burger or even drinking too much milk could damage his brain
The youngster has been diagnosed with Glutaric Acidemia type 1, a rare condition that affects just one in 100,000 children.
It means that should he eat too much protein acid will accumulate in regions of the brain which control movement.
If he consumes more than 19g of protein – the equivalent of a single chicken breast, or three eggs – he could suffer deadly brain damage and die.
So while his friends play football and tuck into fast food Alfie is forced to fill up on cabbage and carrots.
He lives on a strictly controlled diet, which includes very little meat – even too much broccoli, cauliflower or bananas could damage his young brain.
Michelle, 40 said: “He just wants to be like everybody else.
“He has started asking why he can’t have what his friends are eating.
“At McDonalds he could only have one chicken nugget and a few chips and that would be it. One single burger could leave him brain damaged.
“He can’t go on sleepovers or birthday parties, because it would take too long to explain what he can’t eat.
“We have to be really careful about what we eat in front of him and I try and make other things seem as normal to him as possible.
“He can’t have potatoes, but I give him carrot and swede mash so he thinks he’s eating normal mash like us.
“He plays football in a walker with wheels at school and if he was just to be able to have a kick around and walk to school with his mates that would be an incredible thing.
“That’s all we want because he’s an amazing kid.
“He’s brilliant and he’s always happy, he’s my amazing little boy and he’s an inspiration.
“In a funny way he’s the one who keeps us going, sometimes we want to sit down and cry and it’s him who’s laughing. But he keeps us going and fighting for him.”
“We want to give Alfie the best opportunity in life and if anybody is prepared to help us we would be very grateful.
“People don’t understand it, even the medics don’t know much about it.”
Adorable Alfie is an inspiration to his family
Alfie’s condition has left him unable to feed himself, walk or control his own movements and stunted his growth.
It also means he is so frail that even a simple cold could leave his life hanging in the balance.
Last year the youngster went under the knife for eight hours as surgeons inserted electrodes into his brain and a battery pack in his stomach to try and cut down his involuntary movements.
Dad Dave, 46, a plumber, said: “I want him to be a normal little boy, running around playing football.
“It’s been tough and he’s getting older and older and getting heavier and heavier.
“Trying to walk with him and teach him things is harder now.
“It would take a lot of strain off us and we would be able to keep giving him the best opportunity you can.”
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