MIRACLE boy Robert Walker manages a smile on his fourth birthday - which

doctors never expected him to reach.

Robert has a genetic condition, Williams Syndrome, that afflicts just one in 20,000 babies.

His mum Charlotte Mellor said: "It is a miracle to think he has made the age of four.

"Robert has literally died five times under general anaesthetic. He had five operations before he was 18 months old.

"I did not expect him to make it to six months because of problems with his stomach."

Surgeons gave him a series of life-saving stomach and bowel operations but he still suffers heart problems, speech and learning difficulties. He goes to an integrated nursery with other special needs children at St Swithun's School, Kennington.

Charlotte, 25, of Fisher Close, Drayton, near Abingdon, added: "He is a very special little boy."

Robert is one of several Williams Syndrome cases in Oxfordshire. Geneticist Dr Angus Dobbie, of Oxford's Churchill Hospital, said sufferers had a specific chromosome missing from blood cells.

"There is no treatment for it at present. It cannot be caught and most of the time it is a one-off - children with Williams Syndrome are born to normal parents. But once it has started it can be passed on from that child," Dr Dobbie said.

Robert is an only child. His dad David Walker has split from Charlotte and now lives in Australia.

Charlotte said: "We had a difficult situation because Robert was very poorly at the beginning. We had the heartache of him having surgery, but it did not really hit me until two years ago.

"You do think, 'Why me?' and 'What have I done wrong to deserve this?', but you have to get on with it.

"Robert is Robert. He is very special. He has fought an awful lot to be here so whatever he does will be the best he can do.

"I think you learn to deal with it. You have to. If you resent a child for having Williams Syndrome you will never move on. You have to help the child develop his abilities."

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