Lucas Whitelegg was stricken with botulism at nine-weeks-old and left him paralyzed for 241 days.

The Mildura, Australia, youngster spent 10 months in intensive care at Monash Children’s Hospital after ingesting spores of Clostridium botulinum bacterium, found in dust and honey.

Ms Bailey was based in  Melbourne alone and did not leave Lucas’s side, spending most of the year away from her support network and husband who could not afford to give up his job in Mildura.

During this time Andrew travelled 30,000km, commuting between Mildura and Melbourne. Eventually Lucas’s movement returned, and for the first time last month, at 17 months old, he began to crawl.

“We waited so long for these milestones so when you finally see them, they blow you away with excitement and happiness,’’ his mother Bree Bailey said. “To know what he’s come from to where he is now is incredible.’’