Callum Brown, 8, walking again after parents raise £50k for cerebral palsy treatment

Callum Brown suffers from cerebral palsy, meaning muscle tightness in his legs makes it impossible for him to walk His parents raised 50,000 for an operation in the U.S. that cuts the faulty nerves in the spine to help him move Stunned his parents Sharon and Neil by taking his first supported steps just four days after the operation

By Anna Hodgekiss

PUBLISHED: 12:58 EST, 31 January 2013 | UPDATED: 15:56 EST, 31 January 2013

An eight-year-old boy with cerebral palsy has taken his first steps just days after pioneering surgery in America.

Callum Brown flew to St Louis Children's Hospital in Missouri from his home in Seaton Sluice, Northumberland, for selective dorsal rhizotomy surgery to improve the muscle tone in his lower legs.

Cerebral palsy - an umbrella term used to describe damage to the brain that occurs around birth and affects the ability to move. About 1,800 children are diagnosed with it each year in the UK.

Callum Brown, with father Neil and mother Sharon, flew to St Louis Children's Hospital in Missouri for selective dorsal rhizotomy surgery to improve the muscle tone in his lower legs

The procedure involves severing the nerves in the spine that send messages to paralyse the leg muscles

The procedure involves severing the nerves in the spine that send messages to paralyse the leg muscles. With the tensed muscles free to resume normal movement, the patient is then able to walk.

After over five hours on the operating table and gruelling physiopherapy, Callum stunned his parents Sharon and Neil by taking his first supported steps just four days after the operation.

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Callum Brown, 8, walking again after parents raise £50k for cerebral palsy treatment