PIONEERING bone specialists in America have given hope to a disabled Widnes boy.

Cameron Bray, aged seven, the only child in the UK with the rare genetic conditiion, multicentric osteolysis, spent last week undergoing research at Shriners Hospital for Children in St Louis, Missouri.

The disorder has eaten away at the bones in his hands, feet and the back of his eyes, leaving him in a wheelchair.

World leading endocrinologist Dr Michael Whyte, medical director at the centre for metabolic bone disease and molecular disease identified Cameron’s faulty gene.

He prescribed orthopaedic shoes to help him walk, splints to support his hands, bone medication and exercises to improve his condition.

Tests have shown that his arms are still growing.

Cameron’s mum, Leanne, aged 29, of Houghton Street, said: “We got so many answers, we are really pleased.

“There is nothing to stop it spreading and no cure, but now they know the faulty gene, they will try to find out the protein which is causing it.”

She said Cameron’s walking has already improved, as his new built-up shoes compensate for his different sized legs.

She said: “Seeing the difference in the way he walks is amazing, just from a pair of shoes “We’ve got splints for his hands as his condition can cause his hands to turn out.

“Cameron was absolutely fantastic in hospital. He was so confident.”

Cameron will return to America for research until he is 21. His next trip in February 2014, has been funded by the local wellwishers, who raised £13,000.

Leanne said: “All our family and friends pulled together. We are so grateful at how generous people have been.

“The more research they do, you never know what they could find.

“If it means another child gets diagnosed quicker, that would make me and Cameron happy.”

Cameron will continue to be treated at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital where consultants are monitoring his condition.