WITH just six months to go to raise £60,000 for a vital operation in America to help her son Harry, Charlotte Deegan is facing Christmas with fresh hope after meeting another local family who have gone through exactly the same traumatic journey.

Nearly five years ago the Wiltshire Times featured the inspiring story of Nicole Chorley, from Westwood, who was one of the first people to go to the St Louis Children’s Hospital in Missouri to have the pioneering operation in 2011.

This week we introduced Miss Deegan, of Crescent Road, Melksham, to mum Tracy Chorley and Nicole, now 10, to talk about how the operation changed their lives, and will do the same for Harry.

She was reduced to tears when Nicole, a pupil at Walwayne Court Primary, Trowbridge, told her all about her experiences in St Louis and then offered to tackle a sponsored swim for Harry, to help him get the treatment which has made such a difference to her life.

Mrs Chorley told her: “Before we went to America, we were told it wouldn’t do anything for Nic. She was like an ironing board and she wouldn’t bend at all.

“Everyone was against me going ahead with it and when I came back they changed their minds. Everything in this country is a fight and you have to fight to get it done.

“It is all about raising the money and it does take time. If you have posters and write heart-warming letters to supermarkets or councillors to help then it does make a difference.”

The £60,000 Harry needs will pay for Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy treatment, not available in the UK on the NHS, which will reduce the spasticity in three-year-old Harry’s legs, giving him the best chance to be able to walk unaided.

Within days of being born, Harry survived meningitis and spent a long time in hospital. Miss Deegan carried the group B streptococcus gene – where there is a three per cent chance of meningitis being passed onto a newborn through birth – but this was not included in her medical records. The meningitis left him with cerebral palsy, which affects the muscles in his legs.

Together With her partner Matthew Kirkman and Harry’s older brother Callum, his mum is now a quarter of the way towards their target – which they need to reach by June next year.

She said: “The one thing I am not trying to think about is how much he will achieve from the operation, because it is very hard to judge. The biggest thing I am hopeful for is his speech. I just would love to see him express himself, which he does in his own way.

“It just shows how determined he is because everything the doctors have said hasn’t ever fazed him or brought him down.

“People are a bit weary of donating if they don’t see a charity number which is why we have the Just Giving page and we are working with the Darren Wright Foundation too.”

To donate, text HARY91 and an amount to 70070 or visit www.justgiving.com/helping-harry