Baby boy first to get £1.8m treatment on NHS for spinal muscular atrophy

Tap above to watch video report by Ronke Phillips

At just five months old Arthur Morgan from South London is offering hope to hundreds of poorly children.

He has become the first child in the UK to be given gene therapy for a disease that has reduced his life expectancy to two years.

Spinal Muscular Atrophy causes progressive muscle weakness, loss of movement and difficulty breathing.

The new treatment, which was administered at the Evelina London Children's Hospital, gives Arthur and now potentially others the chance to sit, crawl and walk.

But with a price of 1.79 million pounds per dose, it's thought to be the world's most expensive drug.

Zakariya was diagnosed with the same condition as Arthur at almost the same time but his parents have been told the treatment is most effective in children under seven months old.

Zakariya was also diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Because Zakariya is seven months and one week he may not qualify. The final decision will be made by a multidisciplinary NHS team so all the family can do is hope and wait.

"There are no answers and we needs answers," said father Mostafa Albaali.

He and his wife Tara have no idea when they will hear from the NHS so have decided to try and raise the money themselves with a gofundme page to pay for their son's treatment.