A MOTHER whose seven-year-old son has undergone pioneering surgery in the UK to help the painful muscular contractions of cerebral palsy and may eventually result in him walking unaided is hoping the operation will be widely available on the NHS.

Beau Britton, from Kelly Bray, is the first child to be funded by a local NHS trust for the procedure which aims to permanently reduce spasticity.

The operation has been available in America for the past two decades and until now families had to raise money to go overseas for the operation.

Tracy Britton said in a month since the surgery at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol, the effects were already evident and the operation had given her son 'a second chance at life.'

'It's the little things people take for granted — the fact that he could not move his toes independently before but now he can wriggle his toes.

'Also his cerebral palsy meant that his legs were crossed and his feet were planted on top of each other. They are now straight and getting him dressed is so much easier because his overall balance has improved so much.'

The micro-neurosurgery called selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) involves identifying and cutting the spinal nerves causing stiffness and pain. Beau will undergo intensive physiotherapy over the next two years to help him to use and strengthen his muscles.

'With spasticity the muscle tone is very high and that is why the muscles contract,' said Tracy. 'When you take the spasticity away the person is left with no tone, so Beau has to learn to crawl and walk again. It is like being reborn.

'That is why the intensive physio is so vital at this stage —it's a two-year process to see the results but we are taking one day at a time.'

For the first time in his life Beau is sleeping through the night: 'Beau would wake up crying with spastic cramps in his legs and that has stopped,' said his mother. 'The operation has been worth doing just for that. Walking would be the icing on the cake.'

Last year Beau, who attends Stoke Climsland Primary School, had a major orthopaedic operation to prevent his hips becoming dislocated — SDR is expected to remove the need for future orthopaedic surgery when Beau is a teenager.

Tracy is constantly amazed by the way her son deals with his condition: 'He is such a lovely little soul — so bright and so good. He really is delightful and has the best nature.

'We have always been very positive with him and concentrated on the things he could do but as he got older and went to school he would say why can't I walk or play football like other children - we hope that one day he will be able to do this.'

Tracy said she was so grateful to the medical team at Frenchay, led by consultant neurosurgeon Kristian Aquilina, who had been so dedicated and in whom the family had put total faith and trust during Beau's two-week stay in hospital.

They were also indebted to the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Primary Care Trust for their 'forward thinking.'

The National Institute of Clinical Excellence has only recently endorsed SDR. However its guidance still leaves the decision to fund the £24,000 operation and aftercare to each patient's local primary care trust.

Tracy Britton, who found out about SDR after a friend heard a feature on the radio about it and happened to be 'in the right place at the right time' is joining a campaign to see SDR widely available on the NHS.

'There is a parent led group which is trying to petition the Government for this surgery to be available to all children with this condition,' she said. 'We do not want it to be a postcode lottery procedure.'

Beau's story will be featured as part of a BBC Inside Out documentary at 7.30pm on Monday, June 20.