Nathan is sports mad and gets involved, says his mother Julie

Nathan Johnson, aged 10 from Gateshead, took part in the study.

His mother, Julie, explains his cerebral palsy does not hold him back even if he sometimes gets frustrated.

"We noticed something was wrong when he was about four months old but he wasn't diagnosed until he was about eight months.

"Initially they said he might not walk, he might not do this or that, there wasn't talk about what he could do."

He's sports mad and constantly watches it on TV

This negative picture that was painted at the beginning of Nathan's diagnosis is a far cry from the boisterous boy she now ferries between cricket, football and swimming practice.

"He's sports mad and constantly watches it on TV," explains Julie.

"But he also gets involved and he was picked for his school cricket team in a tournament recently."

Mainstream school

Julie, who works as a physiotherapist, says he is happy, has a wide group of friends and goes to a mainstream school.

He has a problem with his left hand but he is assessed every six months and has a special ruler and board which stop the paper slipping and help him in the classroom.

"It affects him when he's tired, he has a limp and he's a bit slower than his younger brother.

"He sometimes takes a bit of persuading to do things, like going swimming, but that's like any child.

"He can get frustrated at times because his younger brother, Jamie, is like a little whippet."

Julie also explains he is developing an attitude like any 10-year-old, but once the argument is over she is glad that he is just behaving as any young boy would.

And she is aware she may be more concerned about Nathan's condition than he is.

"I thought that Nathan might come out more negative than he did when they asked him the questions, I thought it would worry him more, but he was fine.

"And now he likes the attention, he spoke to a journalist on the phone and he's really shy normally but he was so confident - I thought he wouldn't be able to do it but he did."

"You worry about them all the time but he just gets on with it."