A Tynecastle newspaper has got off to a flying start with its campaign to send an eight-year-old boy to Australia for pioneering brain tumour surgery.

Elliott Lamb was diagnosed with a rare form a epilepsy four years ago, causing him to suffer between seven and 10 seizures a day.

If the £25,000 required to send Elliot to Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital is raised, Elliott will never suffer another fit again and will be able to return to mainstream education and no longer face a life on medication.

The Shields Gazette launched the campaign on May 4, and has already had an overwhelming response.

Elliott’s dad is a member of White Watch at Hebburn Fire Station, which has donated £500, while Bamburgh School, where Elliott studies, has also made a donation.

The most touching so far though, is the £200 given by a blind Jarrow pensioner, who wished to remain anonymous.

If the money is raised, he will fly out in October for the operation, which involves an incision being made at the top of Elliott’s skull, his brain being divided and the tumour removed.

It is not the first time the newspaper has run a campaign to help a sick child, the Gazette raised over £50,000 after setting an initial target of £15,000 for Katie Meehan, so she could have a facial deformity corrected.

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