Mum thanks fundraisers after more than £18,000 pledged to help silent Northampton boy get treatment in Canada

Since the Chron covered Callum’s Duff’s story back in June, fundraisers have raised £18, 415 to send the Kislingbury boy - who does not speak - to Oakville Success Centre in Canada to receive a new method of treatment.

After a desperate Facebook plea for information, the family received hundreds of lines of enquiries... and this trip was one of Callum’s last options after exhausting different forms of treatment, including Great Ormond Street Hospital, since he was two years old.

But since his first visit to Canada, there is new hope for the Duff family. Now the six-year-old is consistently using 10 verbal words and is making “huge” progress in his development and motor skills.Mum, Kim Duff said she’s seen a huge improvement in Callum after one visit.She said: “He is so much more aware of himself and his surroundings and much more present, which he wasn’t before. He was totally non-verbal.“We talk to him like he is a normal six-year-old and he understands far much more than he can say.“He is aware of a lot of people trying to help him.”Now the family are venturing out to Canada again in August to continue to use a technological device called Natural Orientation Inducing Tool (NOIT).Its purpose is to support the individual in learning the tools necessary to function from a single perspective to achieve harmony.

Money has also been raised for Callum through fundraising events.

Kim added: “Through fundraising events like abseils, tea dances and auctions, we’re hoping to raise more money to continue to support Callum’s treatment in the quest to find his voice.

“If, with the two efforts combined, we could make it to £20,000 what an amazing legacy that would be.”