HE SPENT the first year of his life in and out of hospital after battling meningitis which left him blind, and deaf in one ear, but nowlittle Levi Trotter faces a further operation after the disease has left him unable to swallow.

The Argus previously reported that the youngster, from Bettws, who turned one last week, spent the first few weeks of his life fighting pneumococcal meningitis after he suddenly stopped breathing at his home.

At the end of May last year he was allowed home, but around three months later his devastated parents, Amber Collins and Aly Trotter, were told the disease had left their baby son blind, and deaf in one ear.

September then saw the youngster undergo a twohour operation to fit a permanent shunt to remove fluid from his brain.

But now the youngster’s battle continues as doctors found Levi has difficulty swallowing due to complications from the meningitis.

Levi has since been fed through a tube in his nose, but at the end of this month he is due to see a surgeon at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, about having a feeding tube permanently fitted into his stomach.

Miss Collins, 25, said: “He spent most of the first year of his life in and out of hospital.

He is starting to babble a bit now but he still struggles to hold his head up.”

The Argus previously reported that Miss Collins was also fundraising for a specially adapted bedroom, which led to an anonymous donation of £1,500 from a reader on top of £500 raised following a raffle held at the Irish Club and the Picton Arms, Newport, Miss Collins has now bought paint, toys and equipment for the bedroom but is waiting to be moved into a specially adapted house by the council.

She said: “He’s going through a lot but he is still my little boy.”