A team of Scottish surgeons halved a baby’s brain to stop him having up to 120 seizures a day.
Little Ruaridh McCallum – known as Ru – was back home after just 10 days following the astonishing procedure.
Mum Rosalyn says her family –teacher husband Michael, 34, and Ru’s siblings Isla, six, and Angus, four – “were set free” by the operation.
The 34-year-old, from Stirling, has urged the Government and NHS chiefs to commit to giving more support to babies who have suffered brain injuries.
Ru, two, was born with rare hemimegalencephaly, which led to half of his brain not growing as well as the other. It affects about one in a million babies and meant that the left side of his brain did not get proper messages.
Speech therapist Rosalyn said the only option was radical surgery to halve the brain and cut the connections between the two sides.
Before the operation at The Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh, Ru, who was just three months old, had up to 120 epileptic seizures a day
He was fed through a tube and was floppy and couldn’t focus. Now, Rosalyn says the family’s life has been transformed
She said: “When we were told about the extent of the surgery it was quite overwhelming but the team were fantastic and did an amazing job.
“It immediately stopped Ru’s fits and meant we could start thinking about his future and maximising his potential.”
Rosalyn has received help from Cerebral Palsy Scotland and the privately-run Napa Centre – although it is a service her family has to fund.
She explained: “This has been a huge success for Ru and has changed his life.
“Over the course of the three weeks we watched in total awe as he made new connections and became a small person who understands they can move.
“We saw him grow in strength and flexibility and were blown away when he not only developed in the specific things that he was working on but also in his ability to understand language, interact and communicate.
“It is hard to describe the level of transformation and how much it has meant to us all.”
●The family has set up a funding page for Ru. Donate here.
