ARCHIE Adams was a happy, smiling little boy, having fun in the park with his parents and enjoying the start of summer.

After he had finished playing he went home without complaint like any other day.

Shortly afterwards he started crying and his mum Karen and dad Russell could immediately tell something was wrong.

Their instincts were proven correct after they rushed Archie to accident and emergency at Southampton General Hospital and he stopped breathing.

He spent days in intensive care as doctors battled to save him.

The family were given devastating news when he was diagnosed with transverse myelitis, a rare condition that causes spinal damage.

Doctors have brought him back from the brink of death on a number of occasions, but Archie, who turned two this year, is now paralysed from the neck down and will require months of treatment and rehabilitation.

The date May 9 is etched in their memories, but even months later Russell and Karen say they struggle to comprehend the gravity of the situation their son and family is in.

They have been forced to move out of their home and currently live with Archie at the hospital’s Ronald McDonald House, while their sons Oliver and Lewis, seven months old and eight years old respectively, currently live with Karen’s parents Ray and Lyn.

Karen said: “He’s very funny and happy and he had just started to talk, and he used to do funny things.

“I can’t look at pictures or videos of what he was like before now.

“We are trying to focus on him getting better and fundraising so we can look for positives.”

Russell agrees: “We lost him a dozen times – the biggest challenge is keeping him alive.”

The pair are full of praise for medics who saved Archie from death’s doorstep but admit there is a long road ahead.

And although they have been told he will never walk, they are keeping their hopes up and aiming high.

Their parents and relatives have stepped in to take care of Oliver and Lewis while they focus on Archie but Russell and Karen both admit that they find it difficult to believe how much their lives have changed.

Russell said: “We still can’t believe it and it hasn’t sunk in yet.

“He just can’t move, he can’t talk to you and he can’t even eat or drink and he’s fed through a tube.”

Karen said: “We thought we had lost him and thought that was it.

“We are devastated and we didn’t want to believe it but we have never given up hope and they are doing research all the time.

“It’s a living nightmare and [when] we see other children his age, it’s just heartbreaking.”

But despite the despair, the couple insist on seeing a glimmer of hope and are delighted to see his response when his brothers can visit him at the hospital.”

Russell said: “He’s getting better and his brain hasn’t been affected whatsoever.”

Karen added: “His eyes light up when he sees his brothers.”

The family are fundraising to help fund Archie’s rehabilitation and are set to organise events later in the year to help.

l For more information visit gofundme.com/archieadams.