' Shaun is a beautiful baby but so very hard to look after. We do not know how long he will live and the doctors and hospitals don't want to know our problems. We are totally alone. Our flat is unheated and Shaun, who is nearly a year old, cannot sit up on his own or even crawl. We haven't the money to cope and I dread the future. It will never get better and no-one will help us.'
So writes the mother of a severely handicapped baby boy and as the BBC marathon tv and radio appeal for Children in Need takes place on Friday Does He Take Sugar? looks into the plight of Shaun and his family.
Presenter John Mills Editor MARLENE PEASE