- Adrian Layt moved his family north to help with his son’s illness
- Jockey’s son Liam has a rare, incurable genetic disorder
- Liam is currently doing well and enjoying the warmer weather.
Talented jockey Adrian Layt has spoken openly about his son’s debilitating illness and how he is sacrificing his career so the six-year-old can live longer – “even if it’s just for a day”.
Layt and his wife Caolina recently made the decision to leave their lives in Sydney and move to Townsville in far north Queensland.
The reason for the change is that the warmer weather helps her son Liam’s illness and quality of life.
Liam has a rare genetic disorder called Duchenne muscular dystrophy which causes a progressive loss of muscle function and predominantly affects young boys.
Veteran jockey Adrian Layt (pictured) spoke about his son’s debilitating illness and how he is putting his family first so the six-year-old can live longer.
Layt pictured competing at Royal Randwick Racecourse in 2021
“I hope our move to Queensland will prolong Liam’s life, even if it’s just for a day. Because it will be one more day than we would have had with him,” Adrian said. News Corporation.
‘Even if it only prolongs his mobility, it will have been worth it.
‘We went to Brisbane last week to do some tests and the specialists said everything was going well.
‘The move to Townsville has been good and the specialists said to keep doing what we are doing.
“At the moment, Liam’s body is not decomposing and, for now, he is growing like a normal child.
Liam’s brothers, Rocko and Charlie, have also adapted well to their new surroundings and Liam is doing well in the first grade of school.
“Life expectancy varies, it just depends on how the heart handles it,” Layt said.
‘Usually people die from heart failure because the heart is a muscle and slowly weakens over time.
Layt says being further north has been good for his son, even though there isn’t much work for him to do.
‘We’ve been told we’re looking at (Liam will live up to) 25-30 years, if he’s lucky. It’s very difficult to understand.’
Layt, who has ridden more than 630 winners in his career, unfortunately cannot find as much work in Townsville as he does in New South Wales, so he will temporarily move to Kembla Grange to ride for a month before reuniting with his family. .
Layt tells her story so other parents can get their children checked if they think something is wrong.
“Liam kept falling all the time and we thought he was clumsy,” Layt recalls.
‘The doctor did some tests to see if they could highlight anything and then they sent him blood samples and looked at all the genetics.
‘When we found out, it was just terrible.
‘When we received the doctors’ report, I was on the way to Tuncurry and I cried a lot.
‘My key message to others is that if you have a little one who walks slowly or is always clumsy, get them checked.
“They say the sooner you start doing it, the better things will be and that’s because then you can take care of them at a young age.”