Paralysed backpacker is home

Stephen Daw with his mother, Janet

A 28-year-old man paralysed by a rare brain disease while backpacking in Australia is moving back to live with his family after three years in care.

Stephen Daw, of Kingsthorpe, Northamptonshire, suffered a rare reaction to a mosquito bite.

He is dependent on a ventilator after catching the rare disease - Murray Valley encephalitis.

The disease, which is transmitted from birds to humans by mosquitoes, has left his arms and legs paralysed.

The disease only affects one in 500 people who are bitten and there is no cure.

Mr Daw, who was a computer programmer, has been cared for in Oxford and then at the Rosewood Nursing Home in Wellingborough while alterations were made to the family home.

Builders have been putting the finishing touches to an extension to the house which will allow Mr Daw to live more independently.

With the work complete, his mother Janet Daw was looking forward to welcoming him home for good.

"The idea is he would be independent as far as he's able to be and lead his own life with the help of his carers," she said.

"It's going to men he can lead some sort of a family life and be his own man as far as is reasonably possible.

"His life at the moment is very restrictive as far as he's away from all of his friends."

Mrs Daw said his homecoming was a very happy day for the whole family.