Amputee's fundraising mission to help other children

Derby County footballer Craig Forsyth attended Taylor's charity event

A 10-year-old boy who had his legs and hands amputated after falling ill is raising money for a charity that has created special memories for him.

Taylor, from Ilkeston in Derbyshire, was eight months old when he fell ill with meningitis and sepsis, resulting in 89 operations to date.

He has embarked on a fundraising mission for Derbyshire-based charity me&dee, which, he says, "mean a lot to me".

Taylor has already raised £2,700 through a sponsored head shave - and is now setting his sights on an indoor skydive.

Taylor with Zorran Carnell from me&dee (left) and rapper Bru-C (right) after shaving his head

Of his skydive plan, Taylor said: "I am not bothered about the scariness; I have seen people do it online, so I want to do it."

Taylor's head shave in August saw him being greeted by his favourite rapper, Bru-C, as well as Derby County footballer Craig Forsyth.

On why he wanted to shave his head for the Melbourne-based charity, Taylor said: “It would be good to raise money for them so they could help other children.

“They mean a lot to me; they give me lots of memories and get me away from things that aren’t very good."

Taylor's mum, Terri, said she was "very proud" of her son's fundraising efforts

Taylor's mum, Terri, 31, said he "smashed" his initial target to raise £1,000 for me&dee.

She said: "I'm very proud of him, it was a nice turnout and the right support was there for him."

Terri described how important me&dee, which assists families where the parent or child has a life-limiting or life-shortening health condition, have been to the family.

"I wouldn’t call them a charity any more; I’d say they are part of our family," she said.

"They help Taylor take his mind away from all his hospital appointments and operations. The amount of memories they made for him have been incredible."

Founder of me&dee, Maria Hanson MBE, embracing Taylor at the head shave event

Me&dee was founded in 2006 by Maria Hanson, who said that Taylor was an "absolute star" for raising money for the charity.

Now, with ambitions to complete the skydive, Ms Hanson said she always told Taylor to "think about what you can do, rather than what you can’t do".

"If Taylor wants to do something, then we can try and enable that to happen," said Ms Hanson.

"Now we know he wants to do a skydive, we may be able to sort something that is possible and something that he would love."

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