Now it's little helper Leon who needs special help

Chadderton Park CP team player Leon Hoey who is fundraising for a SDR operation

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A LITTLE boy who always goes out of his way to help others now needs life-changing help for himself.

Leon Hoey (6) is a very enthusiast member of Chadderton Park Cerebral Palsy Football and has appeared in the Chronicle for his fundraising feats for the team.

In fact his mum Ann-Marie Dougan says he's the first at any community fundraising event and even donated some of his own unused birthday presents when his local children's centre put out an appeal for toys last Christmas.

But in January this year Leon's family were dealt the blow he would need a Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy operation, known as SDR, if he was to continue to be able to walk with and without a frame in later life.

The operation improves spasticity in the legs of youngsters with cerebral palsy and has to be performed by a certain age.

Unforunately SDR isn't available on the NHS so Leon is currently doing everything he can to raise the £21,000 needed for the operation at Liverpool's Alder Hey Children's Hospital. They've raised £10,000 so far.

"We had no idea he would need SDR so it came as a real shock," said Ann-Marie, who travels to Chadderton Park for fortnightly football practise from their home in Warrington.

"At the time Leon was fundraising for a hydra-therapy pool for other children with cerebral palsy and his friends at Chadderton Park but we've had to switch to funding the operation. It's been so hard raising the money and I can't get anything in place at all until we have the full amount available.

"He's the first to want to help others, if someone is in need he's there, that's the way he is. He knows there are those much worse off than him."

Boost

The appeal was given a £2,500 boost by a party held near their home to which Leon's Warrington Wolves rugby heroes, captain Chris Hill and legendary player Lee Briers turned up.

"Leon loves football but loves rugby more and wants to be a rugby player when he's older," said Ann-Marie.

"He was at an event where the Warrington Wolves players were and he asked them to his party. They could hardly refuse a six-year-old!"

Ann-Marie says not only is the SDR vital to Leon's future mobility it will also help ease his pain and discomfort.

"He can walk without his frame but not far and not in a straight line," she said.

"He sort of walks like a ballerina on his toes because the tendons in the back of his leg are so tight.

"He's in a lot of pain at the moment, he doesn't comment about pain much, but you can tell when he starts pulling his leg. His knees hurt him as well so the sooner he has the operation the better so he can start the recovery which takes two years. He's the ideal age to do it now."

Ann-Marie says Chadderton Park CP team means a lot to Leon and the family.

"It's a constant and massive part of our lives," she said. "Leon has made so many friends and loves the coaches. Chadderton Park has given him the opportunity to be around people going through the same thing and seeing other kids like him.

"There's no one at school like him and he feels that. At Chaddy Park they are all in it together"

To help Leon fund his operation and recovery go to www.gofundme.com/help-me-get-my-sdr-operation-x.