HE IS too young for doctors to say whether the NHS will fund a life-changing operation to help him walk, so the family of little Jack Pike have started preparing to fund the surgery themselves.

Two-and-a-half-year-old Jack, of Penhill, suffers from spastic diplegia cerebral palsy, which means the muscles in his legs do not work properly but a procedure, known as Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR), could change that.

The operation, which was only available in America until May, has been launched at Bristol’s Frenchay Hospital, but the family need to wait until Jack is four to find out if he can have it funded on the NHS.

So the family have started a fundraising drive for more than £40,000 to pay for for flights, accommodation and surgery at St Louis Hospital in Missouri just in case.

Jack’s mother, Kylie, 25, said: “Our consultant said in some cases the NHS provide it but we have to go through different stages of them looking at the child. In some cases the NHS do it but we have to pay for the physio after.”

The family have raised £900 so far, £450 of which was raised by his five-year-old brother, Kieran, who cycled eight miles to Coate Water.

And fundraising will continue when family friends Vince Bowers and Alex Galos kayak upstream from London to Lechlade from September 11 until September 17.

This year alone 40 families from the UK have gone to the United States for SDR at their own expense.

The family of five-year-old Robbie Davies, of Lower Stratton, are still waiting to see whether NHS Swindon will fund the SDR operation.

Kylie added: “If we have got to pay for it we have started early and even if we do get the opportunity on the NHS I am hoping the money would pay for the physiotherapy and whatever is left we will donate to the cerebral palsy foundation.

“We are getting in front now because you never know the outcomes of anything – at least we know we have the options then.

“He so wants to play football, he is always outside with his brother. He sits in goal and his brother kicks the ball,” she said.

“The tighter his legs go as he is getting older he is walking on his toes more. He is like a ballerina, he walks on top of his toes.”

It is thought the condition was caused when he suffered a bleed on his brain after he was born prematurely.

The SDR operation involves division of some of the nerves as they enter the spinal cord to free up constricting muscles caused by lower limb spasticity, or increased muscle tone.

To donate to the appeal or to sponsor Vince and Alex visit www.facebook.com/ vincebowers.