A CALDICOT toddler, who has been battling for life improving surgery, has received an extra-special Christmas present this year.

Three-year-old Imogen Ashwell-Lewis, who suffers from a debilitating nerve-muscle condition known as spastic diplegia cerebral palsy, will be the first child in Wales to have selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) surgery funded by the NHS in Wales.

Imogen’s mother Catherine Ashwell-Rice, 37, was given the much awaited news yesterday from the team at Bristol Children’s Hospital.

“I got the phone call telling me that Imogen was going to be the first child in Wales to receive SDR funded by the NHS and it was what we had been fighting for.

“The night before I was sat in bed worrying about how we were going to fund all the physiotherapy and treatment after her surgery and this will just help us out with this mammoth task,” she said.

In February this year an appeal was launched through the Tree of Hope charity to help Imogen’s family to raise over £40,000 for the operation that is hoped will help her walk independently. Mrs Ashwell-Rice said: “The money was initially going to go towards the operation and a few months of physiotherapy after the operation, but now after the NHS said they would fund her surgery, we will be able to afford a couple of years worth of the physiotherapy treatment.”

Imogen was diagnosed with spastic diplegia cerebral palsy at 15-months-old and has daily physiotherapy but there is hope that the SDR will help avoid further muscle deterioration and stiffness and improve her quality of life.

The procedure, which will also be funded for several other children in Wales, was developed by a surgeon at the St Louis Children’s Hospital, Missouri. It involves removing bone from one vertebrae and making an incision in the spine to divide nerve roots that contribute to the spasticity, giving more balance and enabling the patient to walk. Nearly 2,000 children have been treated at the hospital, enabling them to live active lives.

Ms Ashwell-Rice said: “The support we have received throughout this time has been amazing and we are very grateful to everyone that has helped us fundraise.

“Not only is this a wonderful thing to happen to us it is a message to parents battling for treatment for their children, that if you campaign and fight hard enough then something can be done and the NHS may well listen.”

Imogen’s surgery will take place on the 12 January at Bristol Children’s Hospital.