Charlie's own security guard

Wish mum Kristy’s journey to finding out her son Charlie had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy was far from conventional.

Typically children are diagnosed between ages 2 and 5 but there was little to indicate Charlie had the condition.

A teacher noticed he had a “funny running style” and Charlie’s parents observed he was struggling doing some physical things.

GPs thought there was nothing to worry about. When Charlie found it hard to eat because his muscles were tiring, he began choking on his food and Kristy “saved his life a number of times”. However, Charlie learned to eat by swallowing water afterwards to wash the food down.

The family were content until one November night at a local park with friends.

A lady approached Kristy and asked if Charlie, then aged 8, had Duchenne. Kristy had never heard of the word, initially saying “my son’s name is not Duchenne”.

But the seed was planted and after some time on Google later that night, Kristy’s worst fears were confirmed by a neurologist less than a week later.

Charlie’s wish was born out of a desire most young children with siblings can relate to. He wanted to keep his younger sister Khloe out of his bedroom.

“My wish was to make a robot, with the help of a scientist,” Charlie said about his robot bodyguard.

Kristy said her two children love each other but as with most siblings, fall out now and then.

“She is such a huge help to Charlie, she helps put his shoes on and dresses him,” Kristy said.

“She is such a beautiful girl but they just have this love/hate relationship sometimes.”

Charlie drew up a sketch of the robot and a host of people from different companies and backgrounds volunteered their time to turn the robot into a reality.

Based at the Woodside Karda Robotics Lab in Perth, where one of the team was employed, they worked tirelessly over two years on Charlie’s Reconnaissance, Exploration and Protection Robot (CREAPR).

They completed the robot and handed Charlie his own licence card to operate his new friend.