A HARTFORD grandmother has expressed how ‘overwhelmed’ she is by the support of the community in helping to raise funds for a £16,000 operation for her grandson.

Joe Daley, 11, from Warrington, suffers from cerebral palsy and severe visual impairment.

After an appointment in Alder Hey Childrens Hospital, in Liverpool, in November, his family were told about selective dorsal rhizotomy, an operation which could improve Joe’s quality of life.

The operation costs £16,000 but thanks to the efforts of Joe’s family, friends and the Hartford community, he is now scheduled to have his operation in August.

Joe’s grandparents, Carolynne and Dave Riley decided to hold fundraising events in their garden during in their Beach Road home

Carolynne, Joe’s grandmother, said: “We cannot say thank you enough to every single person who visited our Christmas garden throughout December to donate.

“Thank you all. We will never forget your kindness and generosity.”

It was during a party that the family found out that they had raised enough money to pay for Joe’s operation.

Carolynne said: “We had a family celebration in January and there were 44 of us there. When we added up what we had each had raised we realised that we had reached the target.

“Now we want to thank as many people as we can.

“There are too many people to list, we have been overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity.”

Many donations were given anonymously through envelopes and many came from fundraising events organised throughout Cheshire.

The Just Giving page contributed a significant amount to the operation and so far it has raised over £11,000 alone.

Joe’s family have decided that any extra money raised will go towards an eye gaze system, similar to the device used by Stephen Hawking, to aid with Joe’s communication.

For more information visit the just giving page justgiving.com/crowdfunding/joedaley