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Herald to make boy smile

A three-year-old boy is set to go to America for an operation to give him the ability to smile, after the Bucks Herald helped raise the money needed in just 14 weeks.

In October the paper featured a story about Jack and his rare condition, Cystic Hygroma.

The condition means he can’t eat or speak as cysts down one side of his face and neck put pressure on his oesophagus and windpipe.

Instead he is fed through a tube in his throat and communicates using sign language.

An operation to remove some of the cysts left half his face paralysed and Jack unable to smile.

If the condition was left untreated he would only be able to smile on one side of his face, and eventually it would twist his features, causing disfigurement.

Jack needed £30,000 to pay for two operations in America and Bucks Herald readers helped to smash the target in 14 weeks.

Jack will now have two operations in America, nine months apart.

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