NEW SPINE OP LINED UP FOR BRAVE HARVEY

Hopes surgery is last in a long time

- VIVIENNE AITKEN

THE brave boy who had to appeal to former first minister Nicola Sturgeon to get a lifesaving operation is set to undergo urgent surgery this week.

Harvey Martin, 11, had been stuck on a waiting list for surgery to straighten his spine, which was crushing his organs and causing excruciating pain.

But the day after the Daily Record carried a story of his video appeal, Sturgeon assured Harvey, from Wemyss Bay, Renfrewshire, a date for his operation was on the way.

By the time he was operated on last year, his fourth and fifth ribs were 2mm from touching his spinal cord, which would have led to paralysis.