“HAVE you come to check my leg?” asks little James Murdoch as he jumps around the room twisting and turning.

It’s a stark reminder that James has had to overcome more than most children his age. For the five-year-old, from Eastleigh, only has one leg.

But he doesn’t let it hold him back – far from it. James has no trouble keeping up with his class mates, two-year-old sister, Amelia, and his fellow students in the martial arts class he attends.

He even walked his mum, Laura, down the aisle last year when she married his dad, James senior.

James, a pupil at Cherbourg Primary School, was born without a femur, hip and knee joint in his right leg and doctors said he would be confined to a wheelchair.

His parents were even asked if they wanted to consider a termination after it was noted he had no right leg at Laura’s 20- week scan.

“James is an amazing little boy,” says Laura. “He is proving everybody wrong – he can walk and run, and loves riding his bike, which Halfords adjusted for him so that he only pedals with one leg.

“And when he walked me down the aisle last year, there wasn’t a dry eye to be seen – it was very emotional.

“At the 20-week scan, they kept saying they couldn’t find a ‘piece of anatomy’. We had to ask them to explain, and eventually they said his right leg was missing.

“They asked if I wanted to consider a termination as James would be in a wheelchair all of his life. I just thought that as long as he was healthy, what did it matter if he was missing a leg? We could deal with that.”

When James was born, it was found that he had the lower part of his leg attached to where his hip should be – a condition so rare that the doctors at Southampton General Hospital had to take advice on how to proceed from surgeons in America.

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“When he was born, his leg wasn’t as bad as we expected,” explains Laura. “We thought his whole leg would be missing, but we weren’t really sure how it would affect James as he grew. He had his foot amputated just before his first birthday so that he had a stump to attach a prosthetic leg to. “He took to it straight away, and from there we have never looked back.”

Although James’ leg was thought to be a sporadic deformity, he was diagnosed with Femur Fibula Ulna Complex – a rare syndrome characterised by abnormalities of the femur, fibula and ulna affecting seven in 100,000 births. The cause of the condition is unknown.

This year, James has his first prosthetic leg with a knee joint and as he grows, he will need further operations to ensure that the leg fits correctly.

Determined to give James the best bionic leg when he is fully grown, Laura and James senior asked all the guests at their wedding for cash donations instead of presents, and added it to a savings account they have set up for him.

“Everyone wants their child to have the best chance in life, and James is no different,” Laura adds.

“James has never let having one leg stop him from doing what he wants to do, and so far we haven’t found anything that he can’t do. When he was younger he did fall over quite a lot, but since starting Karate and kickboxing in July his balance has improved.

“He even competed in sports day at his school!

And we are hoping he will take part in the Limbpower Primary and Junior Games next year.

“He’s just a normal little boy, who loves superheroes!”

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JAMES attends Matt Fiddes Martial Arts class in Eastleigh, run by Sohail Chowdhary.

“James started off as a shy child and now enjoys every second of the classes,” says Sohail. “His prosthetic leg isn’t something that holds him back, but gives him the unique edge instead – he has a yellow belt in Matt Fiddes Kickboxing.

“I have numerous students with special needs, including autism. We have small classes so that all the children that attend have the chance to shine.

“I run this simply for kids like James. Inspirational stories like his is what makes teaching Matt Fiddes Martial Arts worthwhile.”