She’s battled back from being born prematurely suffering from a serious illness – and now this tot will spend the next six months wearing a helmet to correct her flattened head.
Molly Askham has been fitted with the helmet after she was diagnosed with severe plagiocephaly.
The five-month-old’s parents Michelle and Peter are fundraising towards the £2,000 cost of the helmet, which the NHS will not pay for.
Michelle, from Beeston, Leeds, said: “How can the doctors say it’s a cosmetic issue? You can see both her ears have moved.”
Molly was born five weeks prematurely and at six weeks old, she was diagnosed with an intolerance to cow’s milk then days later developed meningitis.
Later her family noticed the back of her head was flattened.
Medics agreed but said the condition was ‘cosmetic’ and that more time on her tummy would solve the problem.
However her mum noticed it getting much worse over time: “No amount of tummy time is going to change that,” she said.
Mrs Askham and her husband contacted Leeds-based Steeper Clinic which provides plastic helmets to reshape the heads of babies with the condition.
Molly will wear the helmet for at least six months and her family are fundraising towards the cost.
An event is being held on March 2 at the TA Centre in Wakefield. Email agbrigg@hotmail.co.uk with raffle prize donations or give via: www.justgiving.com/michelle-askham
NHS ‘does not fund’
NHS bosses said they did not usually pay for the use of remoulding helmets for babies with plagiocephaly, the condition which Molly Askham has.
A spokesperson for NHS Airedale, Bradford and Leeds said: “This is a largely cosmetic issue and in the majority of cases the condition will resolve spontaneously with advice around positioning of the baby.
“The evidence that a cranial remoulding orthosis – or helmet – is more beneficial than the correct positioning of a baby is extremely limited.”
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