A SIX-year-old boy with cerebral palsy is hoping a life-changing treatment will help him fulfil his dream of becoming a Red Arrows pilot.

When Elliot Gower was two years old he was diagnosed with CP spastic diplegia, leaving him unable to walk unaided and with an uncomfortable tightness in his legs.

He also suffers from severe haemophilia, a condition which results in spontaneous and long-lasting bleeding.

Now his mum Morwenna and dad James have launched the Operation Elliot appeal, hoping to raise £66,300 for him to receive a selective dorsal rhizotomy at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in London, hopefully enabling him to walk completely unaided for the first time.

Mrs Gower, a 34-year-old speech therapist, said: “Elliot is a really spirited and determined boy and he wants to be able to do what everyone else can.

“He wants to be a Red Arrows pilot at the moment – in fact he wants to be Red Leader – or a fireman.

“It will mean a lot for Elliot even just to be able to walk with one stick, and it will mean I can hold his hand when we are out.

“Hopefully he will be able to walk completely on his own.”

Elliot is booked in for the operation next year and is currently taking part in pre-treatment physiotherapy at his ‘gym’, which was put together with items from St Katherine’s Primary School.

Because of his haemophilia the operation will require expensive drugs.

However the Gowers are already organising events to get them to their target, which includes the cost of vital physiotherapy after the operation.

Mr Gower, a 37-year-old printer, said: “We have been blown away by the support we have received already – people are so generous, and they don’t even know us.”

Elliot lives with his parents and siblings Lucas, four, and Jocelyn, two, in Newcombe Road, Southbourne.

Their first fundraising event is a coffee morning and raffle at his grandmother’s home at 22 Belle Vue Road, today from 10.30am. Call 01202 420234 for more information.

To support the appeal visit www.justgiving.com/operationelliot or www.operationelliot.org. Cheques can be made payable to Tree of Hope with Operation Elliot marked on the back.