A YOUNGSTER who is awaiting pioneering brain surgery has now been told he needs an operation to correct a heart problem.

Kurt Hines' mum Lynda Strickland, of Blenheim Terrace, Foulridge, is expecting to get confirmation this week from a Leeds hospital about a heart murmur which Kurt's specialist at Airedale General Hospital has said needs operating on.

Kurt suffers from a rare brain disorder which has profoundly affected his life.

His surgeon at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, Pendlebury, is planning to use muscles from his jaw to replace nerve and blood vessels on the left hand side of his brain which have never developed.

The surgery has never been performed on a child but a specialist from Nottingham has carried out a similar process on an elderly man.

Lynda has been told she will have to take Kurt to the hospital in Nottingham for the surgery to be performed but no date has been set.

In the meantime, a fund-raising country and western evening was held for Kurt at North Valley Community Centre, Colne. The night raised £186.

Lynda said: "We took Kurt along to the event and he really enjoyed himself."

Kurt attends St Michael and All Angels School, Foulridge, with his sister Karla.

He went on a trip of a lifetime to Disneyworld, Florida, just before Christmas thanks to fund-raising efforts of family and friends.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.