A CHILD recovering from a life-changing bone marrow transplant has received a pair of Supershoes to lift his spirits.

Henry Alderson, four, underwent a bone marrow transplant in hospital last April from an anonymous donor.

Nearly a year later, the youngster is still spending his days in isolation as his immune system is not working properly.

This means he cannot see any children or poorly people, and cannot be in crowded places.

He has been in isolation for the past ten months, and there is not a set date he will be able to interact normally yet.

Henry, from Dovercourt, was born with a rare genetic condition called diamond blackfan anaemia which prevented his bone marrow from working properly.

It meant he had to have blood transfusions every three to four weeks to stay alive.

Henry is also the only person on the planet known to have a faulty myelodysplasia gene too, which made it more likely that he could develop a form of blood cancer.

His parents Zoe and Craig Alderson tried to raise £50,000 for three cycles of IVF for a sibling for Henry who was thought to be his best chance of a bone marrow transplant to transform Henry’s life.

But, an anonymous donor eventually came forward to give Henry the transplant he so desperately needed.

Statistics show only 69 per cent of patients get a best donor match from a stranger.

In a bid to cheer Henry up while he is still recovering in isolation following his transplant, the charity Supershoes designed a special pair of Converse for him.

Mrs Alderson said: “We hadn’t heard of them but they design Converse shoes for children and young people with cancer.

“Henry was asked to come up with a brief about what he wanted on the shoes, anything he could think of.

“The Nightmare Before Christmas is his favourite film and he loves all things Halloween, it’s his favourite time of year.

“We were due to take him to see The Nightmare Before Christmas live show in December, but unfortunately he was too ill to go and he was so upset about missing it.

“So he decided he wanted his shoes to be Nightmare Before Christmas-themed with all of his favourite characters on them.

“We filled in the form with his request and a few months later the shoes arrived, he is absolutely thrilled with them.

“He’s had so many compliments about them already, he’s only wearing them indoors and to all of his hospital appointments as he’s still in isolation so can’t mix with people.

“But it’s really cheered him up, he’s having a really rough time and although he takes everything in his stride, he is only four and has been poorly for a long time.”

Supershoes is a charity which designs shoes for children or young people with a diagnosis of cancer.

They are hand-painted by an artist to capture that child’s favourite things.

The charity’s website said: “The end product is a pair of Supershoes as unique as the child or young person that wears them.

“They are a constant reminder to that child of who they are, beyond their illness, challenges and treatment.”

Thousands of Supershoes have been created since the charity was established in 2013.

A team of more than 300 artists help create the shoes for poorly youngsters across the country.

To find out more about the shoes, visit supershoes.org.uk or call 01908 274944.

Zoe and Craig are also encouraging people to sign up to see if they are eligible of being blood donors by visiting DKMS.org.uk.