Olivers first steps after radical US surgery

Coleraine boy Oliver Dickey was diagnosed with spastic diplegia - a form of cerebral palsy - when he was 18 months old.

His condition meant he was confined to life in a wheel chair.

Parents Charlene and Neil researched a new treatment available in American.

However, Olivers doctors were pessimistic and said the treatment would not work.

Not to be deterred the family set out to raise the thousands needed for the treatment to send him across the Atlantic.

Surgeons in St Louis removed inactive nerve endings from Oliver's spine to allow healthy new cells to grow.

At the weekend the six-year-old walked unaided for the first time, just eight months after the surgery.

Charlene Dickey said: Its unbelievable, to have come so far in just eight months.

We couldn't have dreamt it, not so soon.

She added: When they told us it wouldnt work, we couldnt give up.

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Olivers first steps after radical US surgery