Five-year-old boy with black belt in karate overcomes disease

What would you do if you were 3-years-old, had painfully stiff joints, and been told by a doctor that you suffered from juvenile arthritis and an immune deficiency disease? Probably go back to playing with your red fire truck and watching cartoons, right? Not so for Jake Frood.

After watching the movie The Karate Kid, Jake asked him mother if he could take karate lessons. She agreed and enrolled him at the National Martial Arts College in Leeds, West Yorkshire. Within months his weak little legs developed lots of strength.

In only two short years, not only did Jake reach his fifth birthday, but in spite of highly painful joints he achieved the level of a black belt. No five-year-old in the world has a black belt, let alone one with juvenile arthritis.

Standing three-feet tall, Jake received his black belt after a grueling two-mile rune and four hour martial arts test. Jake hopes to rise to instructor by his tenth birthday.

As for his health, with his weakened immune system Jake seems to catch every single little germ that comes around. His mother, a nurse, says, “Without his love for it he wouldn’t have had the determination to get through his illnesses.”

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‘Karate saved my son’s life’: Boy, 5, overcomes arthritis and immune disorder … – Daily Mail