A little boy from Looe has been given the hope that within the next two years he will be able to walk after a successful operation in the USA.

Two-year-old Harrison Mathers, known as Harry, has undergone a £40,000 operation on his spine at St Louis Children's Hospital.

The surgery was carried out after Harry's parents had been told in the UK that he may never walk or even crawl.

The operation is not routinely available in this country and has been paid for by his great-grandmother, Doreen Baxter.

Mum Katherine explained: 'Gran said to us, "I don't care how much it costs, you can't take it with you".

'She gave him the biggest gift ever – she gave him a chance, and within six weeks we were on a plane to America.'

In time, after a lot of physiotherapy, it is expected that Harry, who has cerebral palsy, will be able to walk. His grateful parents are now determined to set up a charity which will give at least two children a year in the UK the same chance.

Dad Richard said their idea was to find someone who is willing to provide land on which to site two wind turbines. The money generated from the turbines would fund the operations.

The couple have also set up an appeal called Legs 4 Little Ones for The Tree of Hope charity.

'We are very conscious that we have been lucky to have had Harry's selective dorsal rhizotomy operation paid for, as we couldn't have afforded that amount of money ourselves,' said Richard.

'There are children everywhere just like Harry, who because of funding, can't have these operations.

'Dr Park, Harry's surgeon, carries out these operations every week and has now done more than 1,000.'