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Indefatigable 7-year-old London boy who plays football despite losing a leg wins award

A Bushey seven-year-old who lost a leg through meningitis at just 18 months old has been honoured as a child of courage in a local hero awards ceremony for Hertfordshire and Middlesex.

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Moriah Jewish Day School pupil Saul Bernett was nominated by his aunt.

Mandy Klipp, Saul’s mother, learned in September that he had made the final three in his category. “We found out on the night that there had been 100 kids in that category.

“For him to then win was an absolute shock but also amazing. I was just so happy for him. He was very, very excited.”

Saul had a prosthetic leg fitted at Stanmore Hospital when he was 21 months old.

“He stood up for the first time and then, with the help of his twin brother, he was walking, running, hopping. He’d go to the park and climb on the highest apparatus you could find.

“He does PE at school with no problems and plays football with all the other children.

“It does get sore quite a lot but that doesn’t stop him. He just carries on like any other normal child would.”

Ruth Gafson, headteacher at Moriah, was “thrilled for him and for the family” over the award.

“He’s a child that you just wouldn’t know has any struggles because he gets on with life like everybody else.

“He has a prosthetic leg, obviously, but by looking at him you wouldn’t see it and wouldn’t know it, because he’s wearing school trousers and school shoes.

“He’s an absolute inspiration. We’re so proud he has been acknowledged.”

Saul’s twin brother, Brandon, was “very excited for him”, Ms Klipp said. “Before the evening he was like, ‘I know he’s definitely going to win’, and he was 100 per cent right.”

Saul summed up his feelings in one word — “happy”.

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