A MUM from Barrow has spoken of her determination to find the money to pay for a life-changing operation for her four-year-old son.

Having been born 10 weeks early, Reilly McCarthy was under the care of a consultant when, at 12 months, doctors noticed he was having problems walking.

It took a further 18 months for him to finally be diagnosed with spastic diplegia cerebral palsy, a condition which has left him in constant pain and struggling to walk.

"He struggles to walk, he walks on his tip toes," mum Justine McCarthy said.

"We were told a couple of years that he might never walk unaided but he is so determined, he has learned to walk unaided but he really struggles with the pain and eventually he says 'I need to go in my buggy, mummy'."

Mrs McCarthy, who was born in Barrow but moved to Lancaster about 10 years ago, says the operation Reilly desperately needs - selective dorsal rhizotomy, is not funded on the NHS and has vowed to raise the money herself.

"It will make a massive difference to Reilly and his future," the 32-year-old former St Bernard's pupil said.

"It will reduce the tone in his legs and his gait won't be as bad, and that will stop him from falling over as much."

The only other option for Reilly would be injections of Botox to reduce the muscle tone in his legs, but it would not be a one-off, permanent solution - the four-year-old would need to undergo the procedure every six weeks.

Mrs McCarthy, who gave up her job to care for Reilly, regularly spends hours every night massaging her son's legs to try and relieve the pain and allow him to get some sleep.

Reilly is due to start school in September, and his mum hopes he will be able to join his older brother Carter at the same school.

"Carter is brilliant with Reilly," Mrs McCarthy said.

"He even offered to donate his Child Trust Fund money to help pay for Reilly's operation. Reilly is such an active little boy and it's heartbreaking when he can't do what he wants to do.

"The other day he fell over and looked at my mum and said 'nanny, I'm always falling over'."

Anyone who would like to help Reilly can donate via a GoFundMe page HERE .