WHEN doting dad Darren Jobbins kissed his new born son Jaiden goodnight he told his wife Teri that he tasted salty.

That innocent remark led to an internet search and the heart-breaking discovery for the Pontnewynydd couple that Jaiden had the life-threatening genetic condition cystic fibrosis.

Jaiden’s condition was not picked up on scans during Mrs Jobbins’ pregnancy.

Mrs Jobbins said: "I had Jaiden at home and he was born perfectly. Then when he was seven days old he had severe diarrhoea so I took him to the hospital but the doctors sent us home and put it down to a stomach bug."

That night Mrs Jobbins scoured the internet for Jaiden’s symptoms and found information on cystic fibrosis.

She said: "I didn’t take much notice of it until my husband was taking Jaiden up to bed and said he tasted salty when he kissed him – one of the key signs."

Then when Jaiden was three weeks old he was diagnosed from results of routine tests taken when he was born.

Mrs Jobbins said: "He’s perfect to me now but he was born with no problems and three weeks down the line to be told he’s got a life-threatening disease was devastating.

"My nurse said it’s like going through a grieving process.

"When your baby is born and they do a quick heel prick test you don’t think for one minute that the results will come back negative."

The disease has halved Jaiden’s life expectancy and currently doctors say he could live to 37. Mrs Jobbins has given up her job to be Jaiden’s full-time carer and also looks after Jaiden’s older brother Jamie, 5.

Now six months on the family are looking to the future and appealing to Torfaen residents to raise money for a state-of-the-art therapy system to help Jaiden cope with his cystic fibrosis.

Cystic fibrosis is caused by a faulty gene that controls the movement of salts through the body and causes the internal organs to become clogged with a thick mucus resulting in infections and inflammation making it hard to breathe and digest food.

Mrs Jobbins hopes the new chest therapy vest from America that costs £6,995 will help Jaiden cope with the debilitating disease.

Mrs Jobbins currently performs physiotherapy on Jaiden’s chest twice a day but the new vest will constantly massage his chest to aid the breakdown of thick mucus on his lungs.

The vest is not available in the UK on the NHS but in America all children with cystic fibrosis are given the vest to improve their quality of life.

Mrs Jobbins said: "As a mum I want to try everything possible to make life easier for him."

Mr Jobbins works at Abersychan company Maintenance Force as a multi-skilled engineer and so far has raised nearly £2,000 through Maintenance Force from the clients and suppliers.

But the family still need £4,995 to be able to afford the chest therapy vest and are now appealing to Torfaen residents to make donations.

For more information or to make a donation to Jaiden’s vest appeal visit http://www.maintenanceforce.co.uk/supporting-jaiden.asp