A HEREFORD mother is appealing for financial help so her five-year-old son can receive the world's best treatment for cerebral palsy.

Stretton Sugwas Primary School pupil Marley George was born with the debilitating disease and has made significant advancements following an operation at the Peto Institute for Conductive Education in Budapest, Hungary.

His mother Vanessa said the transformation following the Eastern European surgery was incredible and cannot wait to take Marley back to the Continent.

"After the tenotomy surgery on his abductors and achilles, Marley could stand up straight with his legs apart for the first ever time," she said. "It was absolutely mad!"

"We take Marley to the Lee Sykes National Centre in Bromyard three afternoons a week and although they are really good, they cannot match the intensity of the courses in Hungary, which must be the best in the world."

Vanessa said only financial restrictions prevent her from taking Marley back over to Hungary for the revolutionary medical help that will make him more independent in life.

"Because I have to constantly care for Marley, my partner has to work for the two of us, which leaves no time for us to do any fundraising," she explained.

"We have received £124 from the staff at Inches Hair Salon in Holmer Road, but we need thousands more if Marley is to continue getting the first-class medical help in Hungary," she added.

If you can help Marley, call Vanessa on 01432 275519.

A BRAVE girl is taking her first steps towards breathing unaided after an operation to open her mouth Ellen Snead was born with the rare complex Henifacial Microsomia condition, which has left the side of her face "squashed".

But, thanks to a fifth major operation, she can now move her tongue for the first time and taste food.

The five-year-old, from Sutton St Nicholas, needed a "new mouth", as a previous operation to create a gap closed again after scar tissue formed, leaving her mouth only as wide as a penny's side.

During her latest five-and-a-half hours of surgery, her jaw was moved back, part was opened to re-form the mouth, while her tongue was freed.

Her father Steve said Ellen, who is unable to breathe without her tracheotomy and has to receive food through a gastrostomy, was taking her first small movements towards breathing unaided.

"She has to have months of physio to stop the mouth closing again, but it's now about three cms in height and she can experience breathing through her mouth. It's also the first time we've seen her tongue and know it had formed correctly. She can nearly stick it out of her mouth, like any cheeky child her age."

Although Ellen, who lives with her father, mother Claire and sister Hannah, still needs nutritional milk fed to her stomach through a tube, she can occasionally eat simple food, like yoghurt and mashed banana.

And now she can move her tongue for the first time, it has given her greater freedom with her word formation and is beginning speech therapy sessions.