A SIDCUP family has become the latest in a line of UK residents queuing up for life-changing surgery in the USA for their child.

The Alli family from Bexley Lane, hope to raise enough money to take their four-year-old son Mikhael to the St Louis Children’s Hospital in Missouri this summer, for the operation called selective dorsal rhyzotomy.

Mikhael, who attends Royal Park Primary school in Albany Park, has cerebral palsy and finds it difficult to walk without support from sticks or a walker.

At the moment, his biggest ambition is just to play football with his friends.

After the operation, he will be able to put his feet flat on the ground and walk on his own.

It will also improve his balance.

Despite overwhelming evidence of the operation’s success, it is still not widely available on the NHS in the UK, forcing families to raise large sums of money to take their children to America.

Mikhael’s mother Yana, 26, said: “The hospital says Mikki is a very good candidate for the surgery.

“We have an appointment there to have the operation done at the beginning of July, but we need to raise £45,000 to pay for it.”

His British doctors and therapists are backing the family’s decision.

Mikhael already undergoes a variety of therapies including conductive therapy, massages and hydrotherapy, but he needs to have the operation as soon as possible before his problems become too well established.

Last year News Shopper publicised a similar fundraising campaign by single mum Paula Neal from Belvedere who wanted to take her daughter Ruby, aged seven, to the same hospital for the same operation.

Ms Neal managed to raise the cash and Ruby had surgery in August last year.

Ms Neal said: “The results have been amazing.

“I found it hard at the time, but I don’t regret it for a moment.

“Ruby is getting stronger and stronger.”

She was a supporter of a petition by parents to the online Number 10 petitions site, urging the government to make the operation more widely available in the UK.

The issue was examined by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) which has said, with some reservations, the operation can be used in the NHS.

NICE has also recommended further research..

However it is up to individual primary care trusts to decide if they will pay for the operation.

Mrs Alli says she and her husband Riaz have looked at alternative treatments for Mikhael such as surgery to lengthen his muscles, but this would have to be repeated as he gets older.

She said: “At the moment Mikki can only walk for short distances because his muscles are so tight.

“This would be a one-off operation.”

Mrs Alli says she is aware of another 14 UK families who will be travelling to the USA this summer for the surgery.

She said: “The idea of the operation is terrifying but at the same time, it fills me with hope.”

The family has a whole series of fundraisers lined up, with support from Royal Park School, Mikhael’s former nursery school Walton House and Christ Church, Sidcup, which are hosting events.

To find out more about the fundraisers or to make a donation, go to specialmikki.com or email specialmikki@hotmail.co.uk