A little boy who had a seven-hour operation to save his ability to walk is now back on his feet.

Max Walsh's one wish was to have a "new pair of legs" - and now that wish has been granted.

The eight-year-old from Strood inspired a fundraising campaign, backed by the Medway Messenger, to pay for ground-breaking surgery.

Max, pictured left, has cerebral palsy and without treatment, his parents were told he would need a wheelchair by his teens.

Family, friends and even strangers rallied to collect enough cash for the operation in America, but due to changes within the NHS, Max was able to have the treatment in Bristol.

He was only the fifth child in the UK to have the surgery, which involved severing abnormal nerve roots, leaving only the functioning ones intact.

Mum Nicole, 34, said: "Max wasn't frightened. He was in theatre for seven hours. I was fine until the last hour and then I just went to pieces."

After the operation, Max had an intensive course of physiotherapy in Bristol, but he did so well he was discharged a week early, and is now having physiotherapy three times a week at home.

Nicole said: "Max was very determined. He knew the faster he did the physiotherapy and the harder he worked, the quicker he could come home.

"He is doing really well. He is able to walk more independently and he is now back at school full-time. There was no guarantee it would work, but we felt we had no choice as he would have been in a wheelchair by the time he was 13 if he didn't have it.

"Max always used to wish for new legs and now he says he's got them. It has changed his whole personality."

The operation was funded by the NHS and money raised by the fundraising campaign.

The rest of the £26,750 collected by Max's family will pay for his physiotherapy over the next eight months.

Nicole said: "We want to say thank-you to everyone who supported the fundraising, without their help we couldn't have done it."