A fundraiser for a young boy’s new prosthetic limb has received a huge donation of £5,000, leaving only a fraction of the funding goal left to raise.

Jayden Henry-Poole, 10, is a young lad who lives in Bude. Being born with Amniotic Band Syndrome, a condition in which fibrous bands of the amniotic sac get tangled around a developing fetus, left Jayden without a fully developed left arm.

However, last year, Jayden was told he would be eligible for a Hero Arm, produced by OpenBionics in Bristol. A high-tech prosthetic limb which detects muscle movements, meaning it can be used with minimal effort and features haptic vibrations, beepers, buttons and lights to provide intuitive notifications that help the user control the bionic arm movements.

Ever since, Jayden has had his sights set on the life-changing gadget and thanks to a recent £5,000 donation from The Blanchminster Trust, Jayden is one step closer to the having his own hero arm.

Jayden’s mother Rebecca explained: “It feels amazing to of almost reached our target of £13,000! We applied to Blanchminster Trust, a local charity to Bude for a bit of extra support, when we heard news of them giving Jayden £5,000 we were all overwhelmed with their generosity. We were not expecting that at all! It has given us a massive boost and to say we’ve nearly raised the full amount in three months is amazing!

“Jayden is thrilled to see that we are nearly at our target, he cannot wait to get to Bristol for the consultations and start having his Hero Arm built! Raising this money for the Hero Arm is important to help Jayden because having this arm will aid him in doing things that many people take for granted, small every day tasks. But also he will be able to enjoy hobbies as he gets older, such as fishing, archery, basically anything he needs two hands for. Most importantly it will help him with confidence and he won’t have to hide his little arm anymore when he feels uncomfortable.”

So close to their target, fundraising doesn’t stop here.

Rebecca explained some of the other events which have raised funds for the cause and some of the upcoming fundraisers: “The Barrel At Bude raised an amazing £1,000 with their landlords birthday bash! Thank you so much!

“The fundraising we have left is; Table top sale - February 18, 10am to 2pm. A childrens fun day - March 4 10am to 2pm. BASSLINE - Blokes Singing Group from 4pm - March 25th All of these are taking place in The Bude Methodist Church Hall, a massive thank you to Debs Marsh & Co for allowing us to use the hall.

“Also on March 17, Wainhouse Inn are having a race night to support Jayden, thought of and arranged by an 11year old lad and his mum, this sounds like a really fun night! There is still something happening around Easter! There will be cake and a raffle, amongst other things.

“A big thank you to Paul and Donna at RedSmart for printing our posters. Massive thank you to everyone supporting us, we are nearly there!”