Camden, 4, was born without arms or legs, took his first steps on Sunday, bringing tears to his mother’s eyes
A 4-year-old Texas boy born without arms or legs is inspiring others thanks to a sweet video of him taking his first steps.
Katie Whiddon was moved to tears on Sunday as she watched her Camden slide across the floor of their Denton apartment to her boyfriend, Cole Greene. The event was a long time coming for the mother of three.
“We started crying, we were so proud,’ Whiddon, said.
“I didn’t know when that day would come. I didn’t think he was ready for it yet and I was just so shocked and happy. It was so exciting and [his sister] Ryleigh was over there jumping, excited.”
“I’m coming to you,” an excited Camden says in the video. “I’m walking!”
Beside him, Camden’s little sister, Ryleigh, 3, is shown looking on as her big brother walked to Greene. Soon, Camden makes it to Greene and Ryleigh is shown jumping up and down.
Whiddon says she was just 18 weeks pregnant when she went to the doctor for an ultrasound and learned that Camden didn’t have any arms or legs. When he was born, he was diagnosed with amelia-phocomelia.
“When I first found out he wouldn’t have arms or legs, I thought that he would just be a vegetable … I didn’t know what to expect,” she said. “I had just turned 19 and I didn’t know, ‘Am I gonna be able to be good enough for him?’ ”
She adds: “When he was around 2 months old, I had him laying on my bed … I saw him out the corner of my eye and he was hitting the toys with his arms. I started to cry, I was just so happy and that confirmed that he was gonna be able to do things.”
And he did. He soon began lifting his head, rolling over, throwing toys and more. Whiddon says, “I had so many doubts at first, but he’s just shown me how I don’t need to doubt him.”
“A lot of people like him are motivational speakers and love helping people,” she says.
“Call it mother’s intuition, but I feel like he’s gonna be one of those motivational speakers and now, giving him the exposure will give him a platform so when he’s ready to speak for himself he will have people who actually want to listen to him and care about what he has to say.”