Heartbreak as little Scots boy says "All I want for Christmas is friends"

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A little boy has told how all he wants for Christmas is . . . friends.Six-year-old Benjamin Briggs has spina bifida and hydrocephalus but the sociable youngster just wants to be like any other child - out playing with pals .But when Benjamin tries to make friends with the able-bodied children he meets in the park they just run away.And his heartbroken mum says adults can be just as dismissive of her young son.Michaela Morrison, 32, said: “All Benjamin wants for Christmas is to have friends and play like any other child.”His mum found out he had spina bifida at her 20 week scan and admits it came as a shock because there were no disabilities in her family.She said: “I had no idea what spina bifida was but I chose to do nothing.

I got given leaflets bit I put them all in drawer and never looked at them again. I just decided to go with the flow.”Did you know you can keep up to date with the latest news by signing up to our daily newsletter?We send a morning and lunchtime newsletter covering the latest headlines every day.We also send coronavirus updates at 5pm on weekdays, and a round up of the week's must-read stories on Sunday afternoons.Signing up is simple, easy and free.You can pop your email address into the sign up box above, hit Subscribe and we'll do the rest.Alternatively, you can sign up and check out the rest of our newsletters here.Spina bifida is when a baby’s spine and spinal cord does not develop properly in the womb, causing a gap in the spine which leads to defects in the spinal cord and the vertebrae.When Benjamin was born in Edinburgh Michaela got to hold him for just 10 minutes before he was whisked away to Edinburgh’s sick children’s hospital for an operation the following day.He was in hospital for a