BRAVE mum Melissa Hunt has battled to raise more than £45,000 for her son to have a life-changing operation.
Four-year-old Theo has cerebral palsy which means he can only crawl without using a frame and splints and could end up in a wheelchair if he does not have treatment soon.
He was due to have an operation to reduce tightness in his muscles at the Queen's Medical Centre earlier this year, but funding was cancelled just weeks before the treatment date by health body NHS England.
After the Post intervened, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust – which runs the Queen's Medical Centre and City Hospital – forked out £100,000 for 19 children to have operations, but Theo missed out.
But in March, Ms Hunt – who lives in Underwood - said she would do "whatever it takes" to raise the money and the miraculous mum-of-two has smashed her target in just six months.
She said: "I feel quite emotional about it all but I don't see I've done anything different to what any other mother would do. I just love my children so much and I wasn't going to stop until I had done it. "I am just fighting for Theo. I want to give him the most independent life we possibly can – the best chance I can give him."
In the space of just six months 29-year-old Ms Hunt has organised countless events including fun days, bag packs at supermarkets, wall climbs, haunted sleepovers, being featured in the Nottingham Forest programme and fun runs.
Theo's grandmother Jo Hunt said she hoped to see the four-year-old given a new lease of life.
She said: "I'm very proud of Melissa and her achievements and I'm very thankful and grateful to the amount of support that she's had from everyone, from strangers as well that have made individual donations.
"It's a big opportunity for Theo – it's going to be a chance for him to gain more independence and freedom and be like other children in a physical way. Hopefully it's going to be life-changing."
Theo is due to travel to Leeds on Sunday and will have the £19,000 surgery next Tuesday before a month of intensive physiotherapy at the Leeds General Infirmary.
The youngster will then return to Nottinghamshire and Ms Hunt hopes the rest of the £45,000 raised will pay for him to have three years of therapy – five times a week.
The selective dorsal rhizotomy operation involves cutting nerves in the lower spinal column, which can relieve leg stiffness, but children have to learn how to re-control their leg muscles again after.
Cerebral palsy is a general term for a number of neurological conditions that affect movement and co-ordination. Neurological conditions are caused by problems in the brain and nervous system. Cerebral palsy is caused by a problem in the parts of the brain responsible for controlling muscles. The condition can occur if the brain develops abnormally or is damaged before, during or shortly after birth.
SHANNON Bowley was one of 19 children whose selective dorsal rhizotomy operations were rescheduled after The Post contacted Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. The eight-year-old from Top Valley could only shuffle about on her bottom or take a few steps with the aid of a frame before the treatment but is now recovering well and physiotherapy is helping her learn to walk. Shannon had the operation just days after The Post got involved in the story. At the time her grandmother Samantha Jones said: "I'm absolutely over the moon," she said.
"My body is really hurting from all the stress. But when they phoned and said we are going ahead I was just crying and we all hugged each other."
