Brave young Ben thanks Wolverhampton firms for crucial rehab help

Ben Baddeley, 12, who suffers from cerebral palsy, has been receiving hydrotherapy treatment with H20 Physio in Wombourne and physiotherapy at Matthew Farrow Privilege Health Clinic in Compton Road, Wolverhampton.

The youngster underwent two years of preparation to have a life-changing operation in February 2014.

But just days before he was set to have the surgery, his parents Amy and Gary received a letter saying his £24,000 op would not be paid for on the NHS.

After suffering in agony for months as he was deprived of pain-relief drugs, he finally got his operation in July 2014, thanks to the huge fundraising efforts of his friends and family.

But ever since, physiotherapy treatment he desperately needed to keep on the right track while he grows has had to be funded by his family, leaving them with a £2,000 bill every month.

Ben's case has been well-documented in the public eye. He has written to former Prime Minister David Cameron twice, invited to Downing Street and then snubbed on arrival.

And among his army of supporters he counts the notorious Charles Bronson, renowned as Britain's most violent prisoner, who has sent Ben presents and artwork to auction off and raise funds.

After proving to North Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group in August that the treatment the youngster from Newcastle-under-Lyme is receiving is helping, the family is still waiting on a decision on whether his treatment can be funded up until an appropriate age.

In the meantime, they are still desperately trying to scrape together cash to fund his treatment,

His mother Amy said: "I want to say a massive thank you to H2O Physio and the physiotherapists.

"Ben has gained so much confidence from doing the sessions, especially the underwater treadmill.

"When he doesn't have the sessions, you can really see that his progress is going backwards."

She added: "It is getting frustrating. We've done everything we can to convince them that the treatment is working. I don't know what's taking so long. We have to keep going for Ben.

"He's had treatment and has had such a better quality of life from it. To have that snatched away from him would be cruel."