A four-year-old boy has a rare brittle bone condition which has seen him fracture his collarbone from just bumping into a RADIATOR.
Kieran Dube has a “zest for life” despite being diagnosed with Type V Osteogenesis Imperfecta which causes his bones to break as easily as “glass”.
He has suffered a staggering 13 fractures since birth because of his condition which he refers to as “O.I.”
Despite his young age, Kieran is aware of his condition and the need to be extra-careful.
He is unable to take part in the “rough and tumble” with his brothers Ryan, nine, and Christian, two, and bouncy castles, trampolines, and sports are “off the cards”.
The diagnosis came despite his mum Rachel Dube, 30, who calls Kieran her little “Superman”, having a textbook pregnancy.
But she noticed her second child was not hitting the normal milestones a few months after he was born in March 2014, weighing 9lbs 10ozs.
Family then realised Kieran could not lift his head up and stopped using one of his arms and took him for a checkup.
Doctors initially thought Kieran had Ricketts but he was eventually diagnosed with the brittle bone condition, aged seven months old.
Little accidents that normally a four-year-old would bounce straight back up from can have more severe consequences for Kieran.
His bones are so very fragile that he broke his arm after falling off a sofa and fractured his collarbone by bumping into a radiator.
Mum-of-three Rachel, from Eastfield, North Yorks., said: “His bones are like glass. If he falls, they break.
“When he was diagnosed I thought ‘that’s it, life over’. But it really isn’t.
“We do worry and everything has to be very controlled. He’s fallen off the sofa and broken his arm and bumped into the radiator and broken his collarbone.
“Bouncy castles and trampolines are a no-go and he can’t play rough with his brothers.
“He can run but I like it to be controlled. We would rather he didn’t because of the risk of him falling.
“He can’t touch his shoulders and when he breaks a bone in his body and it heals he produces too much extra bone which forms bumps.”
To date, Kieran has broken 13 bones which Rachel has learned to cope with despite it still being “scary” everytime”.
Kieran is in and out of hospital 10 times a year for appointments and family are on a first name basis with many A&E staff.
“When he was diagnosed we were told he may never walk. They didn’t know how it was going to affect him,” added Rachel.
“He has a lack of collagen in his bones so it means his bones are a lot weaker, it proves quite problematic.
“He’s had 13 fractures over the course of his life including a couple of rib fractures, he broke his arm which required surgery when he was 18-months-old.”
But what the youngster lacks physically he makes up for mentally, and his curious and positive nature has made him a hit with the town’s bus drivers.
The bus-obsessed youngster was invited to visit the EYMS Hull depot during the Easter holidays.
“He wanted to live there – he would be quite happy,” added Rachel.
“They took him round to see where they paint the buses and clean them. He loved it, he’s definitely going to be a bus driver when he grows up.”
“He loves buses, he knows all the numbers in Scarborough.
“He’s naturally very inquisitive. He wants to know everything and if he asks you a question and you don’t know the answer he wants you to find out.”
If he isn’t dreaming about buses he is listening to his favourite singer, American pop music solo artist Anastacia.
There is no cure for brittle bone disease but with the right knowledge and treatment, Kieran can live a full life.
Every three months, he attends Sheffield Children’s Hospital to receive a dose of Zoledronic acid which was first described to Rachel as like wrapping masking tape around his bones.
