A worried mum has told how her two-year-old son has been diagnosed with a rare condition that is turning him back into a baby.

Kade Gibbons suffers from infantile dementia - a condition which has reverted him back to a six-month-old.

There is no known cure for the condition, and mum Melissa Gibbons, 26, says he suffers up to seven seizures a day since he was born.

The episodes starve his brain of oxygen and leave him severely affecting his early development as a newborn.

Kade's condition is described as a form of childhood disintegrative disorder, a suspected genetic condition with no known cause - commonly linked with seizures.

Melissa Gibbons
Kade is prone to have several fits every hour

Mum-of-three Melissa, of Sutton-in-Ashfield, Derbyshire, said: "It was hard watching him [Kade] go back in time like that. He was born fine and up until four months old he was developing normally.

"Out of nowhere he started having fits and went back to a newborn overnight.

"He has infantile dementia because of the seizures, his brain has been that damaged it's like he's a baby and he always will be."

Kade is prone to have several fits every hour, he's nil-by-mouth, he can't walk or sit unaided, he doesn't communicate at all and because of the type of epilepsy he's got he doesn't respond to medication.

However Melissa says the condition has not stopped him from enjoying even the smallest things in life and enjoys frequent trips to aquariums.

Speaking about her son's attitude to his illness, Melissa added: "He's got a good temper on him - he knows what he likes and what he doesn't like.

Melissa Gibbons
Melissa Gibbons, 26, with son Kade Gibbons, 2, of Mansfield

"But he doesn't cope well with noise, he likes soft music and aquariums because they're quite calming.

"We take him a lot to the Sea Life Centre and the whole time we're there he doesn't fit at all."

The family have found it even more difficult to deal with because of how little the doctors can tell them about Kade's diagnosis.

Melissa added: "He's had substantial brain damage but they don't know what's causing it.

"It's life limiting but they don't know to what extent. No one knows how he will progress.

"We went to the 100,000 Genome project and they did a full genetic test, because they think that everything has happened due to a rare genetic disorder.

"But there's so little known about it - whatever's caused it has made it hard to control his symptoms and he doesn't respond to medications."

Melissa also has two other children including tiny Cassidy, who is just four weeks old, and it's not known yet whether she might develop the same genetic disorder.

Kade Gibbons
'We don't know what the future holds'

"We don't know what the future holds,

"We didn't know children could get dementia but there are these conditions out there so rare you may never see them - but they can happen to anybody.

"It's hard because I have two other children we don't know what it'll mean for them."

A GoFundMe page for Kade has been set up, and you can visit it here.