Award for brave Joshua

UCKFIELD youngster Joshua Brooks was recognised as a child of courage at the first awards ceremony of its kind in Sussex.

Twelve-year-old Joshua was one of eight winners in the Outstanding Sussex Children's Awards, at Brighton's Hilton Metropole Hotel on Friday. The budding DJ who has suffered a rare bone disease since birth received his award for 'triumph over adversity' from former boxer Chris Eubank.

Joshua, of Hunters Way, suffers from the bone-weakening McCune Albright syndrome.

His mother, Jennifer, said: ' The density of the bone is more sponge-like in the inner core but very brittle in the outer core.'

Jennifer said she noticed something 'not right' with Joshua when he was just six weeks old. 'I noticed little brown spots on the left side of his body. I kept taking him to to doctors and to hospital but they couldn't find anything wrong with him.'

However, when he was four, Joshua broke his leg. It was only then that the medical authorities diagnosed him with the condition. Doctors found that Joshua had already suffered dozens of tiny hairline fractures. He now has telescopic titanium rods in both legs and a plate in his right hip.

Jennifer added: 'He has had lots of thyroid problems. He had to have two "optic nerve depressions" because in certain parts of his body the bones thicken. This happened in his skull and he had to have two separate operations for it. The surgeons had to go in underneath his brain to keep his sight.'

'He's having his thirteenth operation this week. The doctors are extending the telescopic rods in his legs.'

One release Joshua has from the pain he suffers as a result of his condition is music. The Newick House School pupil's ambition is to be the next Fatboy Slim and his parents Jennifer, a housewife, and Gary, an officer in the London Fire Brigade, are right behind him.

Jennifer said: 'He's been into it since about the age of four. He's got the complete disco set-up dual decks, mixer, CD changer, smoke machine, laser machine, flashing lights and disco ball. And he's got about 100 records on vinyl and CD. '

Friday's event was organised by the Rockinghorse Appeal which raises money for the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children in Brighton.