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'Thank you for helping my son'
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| Tarela with little Steven. |
A LITTLE boy could be on the verge of walking for the first time after hundreds of Review readers helped to make his life-changing operation possible.
In January the St Albans and Harpenden Review reported on a family's fight to raise £12,500 for four-year-old Steven Aghanti, who has brittle bone disease, before their medical visa expired.
Their chances looked bleak.
But cash and cheques flooded into the family and the Brittle Bone Disease Society following our article and we can reveal they have now reached their £25,000 target for the operation.
Mum Tarela, 34, brought her brave son to Cravells Road, Harpenden, to stay with her sister Maureen after doctors in their home country of Nigeria continually failed to diagnose his crippling condition.
Now Steven's dream of running around like other boys could be about to come true.
He will undergo surgery at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital on Friday.
Tarela, who left her seven-year-old son Daniel and husband Victor behind in Nigeria, said: "I am so overwhelmed by the generosity of everyone.
"After the story was printed we had so many emails asking where we lived so they could drop off cheques.
"The charity kept calling us to say they had more and more donations, it was really wonderful.
"When we realised we had enough it was just amazing, I had tears running down my cheeks.
"Being able to tell Steven we could do it was a dream come true.
"He is so excited, he can't stop screaming out: Thank you'."
Steven, who moves around by shuffling on his bottom, will have metal rods put in his legs which will hopefully give him the strength to stand.
The visa for the two, who have travelled with Tarela's mother, will be extended until Steven's treatment is complete.
Since birth he has suffered from about 50 painful fractures, but when the family were in Nigeria there were times when they couldn't afford the bus fare to the hospital.
It was then that Maureen started saving to bring the pair to England.
They joined the Christian Bethany Fellowship in Ambrose Lane, Harpenden, and began their weekly fundraising efforts.
Mother and son are both looking forward to going back home - but it would have been a different story had they not raised the money.
Tarela said: "We kept having to push the operation back because we didn't have the money, and at the same time our visa was running out.
"It would have been heartbreaking to have taken Steven back without having the operation done.
"It is not guaranteed if Steven will be able to walk after the operation, but he is so determined to do just that I think he will.
"I want to thank everybody so much for helping us and for giving us their blessing."
8:31am Wednesday 26th March 2008
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