What Is Amelia-Phocomelia? Toddler Born Without Arms Or Legs Walks For First Time

A Texas family shared a video to Instagram Nov. 19 of their pre-school aged son as he learned to walk for the first time without arms or legs. The child suffers from Amelia-Phocomelia Syndrome, which prohibited his ability to walk due to an absence of limbs.

Camden, 4, was diagnosed at birth with Amelia-Phocomelia Syndrome, an extremely rare condition that can cause one or more limbs to be missing. The defect affects 0.053 to 0.095 in 10,000 births, including Camden. The toddler, however, hasn't let the condition halt his willingness to engage in regular recreation, including walking.

The video footage, which garnered more than 49,000 views so far, showed Camden as he inched closer to his father, Cole. Cole's arms were wide open as he waited to receive him. The young child said, "I'm walking."

"With some coaching and a pep talk from his Daddy, CAMDEN FINALLY LEARNED HOW TO WALK," Katie Whiddon, the child's mother, said in the video's caption on Instagram. "I cried like a baby! I've been looking forward to this moment for the past four years and it finally happened!"

"I am SO proud of Camden and I am SO BLESSED to be his Momma," Whiddon added.

Whiddon has detailed Camden's situation on her blog, Admirably Diverse, and how the diagnosis came to be.

She first discovered that her child would be born with missing limbs during an ultrasound appointment. Whiddon initially planned to terminate the pregnancy because she didn't want her son to suffer daily, she said. Whiddon, however, decided to keep the child because she believed the positives outweighed the negatives.

Camden is still able to participate in activities that are "typical" for a 4-year-old boy.

"Despite Camden's limb difference, he is your typical four-year-old boy," Whiddon wrote in a blog post. "He picks his nose, thinks farts are funny, never stops talking, and is always messing with his younger sister. He can draw, paint, sit up by himself, feed himself, wash his own face, brush his own teeth, climb up stairs, and so many other things."

Medical professionals at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Tampa, Florida, reportedly told Camden's family that he would be able to start trying prosthetic arms between 7 and 9-years-old. The physicians were also working on a way to give him prosthetic legs.