THIS is the moment brave little Jacob Buckett took his first steps after undergoing life changing surgery to help him walk.


Jacob, four, from Canford Heath, suffers from cerebral palsy and as a result struggles to walk and move around unaided.

Due to his condition he finds it hard to put his feet flat on the ground and as a result his hip bones had starting to come out of the socket.

He was told by doctors that he needed a selective dorsal rhizotomy (sdr) by his fifth birthday in October or he would risk being wheelchair bound for life.

It was agreed that the surgery would go ahead at the end of last month, and although it’s still early days it looks like the operation was a success.

Last week Jacob's mum Amanda shared a video of him taking his first steps after the surgery using a walking frame.

And apparently the young Cherries fan has been exceeding all expectations with his recovery - despite suffering with quite a lot of pain.

"I am completely amazed at how far he has come in such a short time," added mum-of-five Amanda.

"But he's just so determined to get up on his feet and be able to walk unaided.

"We're shocked at how well he is doing really, especially as he has been in so much pain at night following the operation.

"But no matter what he just keeps smiling through out and is ready to get back up and try again the next day."

According to Amanda, Jacob should soon be able to walk without any support.

"We know we still have a long way to go with intensive physiotherapy but the progress he has made so far has been fantastic," she added.

"It was a tough decision to go ahead with the operation, considering there was always a risk he could have ended up paralysed, but we are so glad we listened to the doctors and decided to get it done."

Jacob's operation, which could restore the function in his legs by as much as 75 per cent, was not available on the NHS.

A fundraising campaign was launched last year to raise the £36,000 needed for the operation and physiotherapy. So far £25,000 has been raised which is enough to cover the cost of the operation.

But there is still a long way to go to raise the extra £12,000 needed to pay for two years of intensive physiotherapy for Jacob.

To donate go to justgiving.com/the-dcf-appeal-jacob.