An 11-year-old boy is ageing backwards and will be left with the abilities of a baby after being diagnosed with a rare disease.
Jayden Skidmore was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy – a condition that weakens the skeletal and heart muscles – at the age of five.
Just two years after the diagnosis, he stopped being able to walk due to muscle weakness in his legs.
The life expectancy for a child with the disease is 22 years, but his mum, Jade Skidmore, and stepdad, Sean Dudley, worry he won’t live to see 20.
Sean, a track isolation operative from York, is hoping to take Jayden on a “trip of a lifetime” to Florida, US – and wants him to meet his hero, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
In June 2025, the 35-year-old will be taking on one of the ‘world’s toughest challenges’, which involves rock climbing, swimming and sprinting to help raise funds for the trip.
“Time is of the essence – we want Jayden to live the best life he can, while he’s still here,” Sean said. “He loves ‘The Rock’ because I got him into Jumanji.
“We want him to be able to meet him, we’ve been trying to reach out to him on social media.
“It would be Jayden’s dream to have a chat with him while in Florida.”
Jade, who cares for Jayden full-time, said she had a “normal” pregnancy with Jayden, and thought everything was fine when he hit his early milestones, like crawling and walking.
Looking back, she believes he started having problems with his motor skills between the ages of three to five.
“He couldn’t walk properly,” the 33-year-old said. “When he got to four, he just kept falling over, all the time.
“We were so worried.”
Sean and Jade took Jayden to see a child development specialist, who gave him a blood test.
In September 2018, the results came back and revealed that Jayden’s creatine levels were at 1,600 units-per-litre. He was told the normal level was supposed to be in the “hundreds.”
This, as well as his symptoms, was enough to get him a diagnosis of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
'I’m absolutely devastated,' says mum of son's illness
Jade had a genetic blood test in the same month, which confirmed she had unknowingly passed the gene down to Jayden.
“I just thought it was my fault,” she said. “I really blamed myself.
“But, it is what it is – there’s no way we could’ve known.”
In the years since his diagnosis, Jayden has completely lost the ability to walk.
He takes daily steroids for his muscles, and heart medication for his weakened cardiovascular system.
Doctors have given him a decade left to live, and say he may have significant heart problems as he gets older.
“As Jayden’s mum, I’m absolutely devastated,” Jade said. “He used to be able to play football, run and do little bits.
“But now he’s just in a wheelchair, full-time.
“Deterioration usually starts with the legs, then travels up the body.
“We’ve been told he could go at any age.”
Going on holiday to Florida has always been Jayden’s dream – and Sean is raising as much money as he can to get him there in October 2025.
To support him, visit Sean's JustGiving Page online: ‘Iʼm raising £10,000 to To help take Jayden on his dream holiday to Florida.’
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article