'We want to give our girl a new level of freedom'

A COUPLE from West Wales have launched a huge fundraising effort towards life-changing surgery for their five-year-old daughter, who has cerebral palsy.

- IAN LEWIS Reporter

Wyn and Rachel Dakin live in Lyneham, Wiltshire, but are originally from Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion respectively - Rachel from Llandysul and Army sergeant Wyn from Five Roads.

Their daughter Phoebe needs a selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR), an operation unavailable on the NHS and which costs at least £40,000 with associated rehabilitation and therapies.

It is the the only procedure to permanently remove spasticity in the legs of children with cerebral palsy, and involves cutting nerves in the spine that cause tightness in muscles.

The hope is that Phoebe, who uses a wheelchair, could gain more independent movement from the surgery.