THE MOTHER of a seven-year-old boy with a rare bowel disorder said he faces a further nine-month wait to see if a major operation has been fully successful.

Jamie Stones, of Greengates, who suffers from short bowel syndrome (SBS) has had 23 operations during his life so far.

He underwent a major operation on September 30 last year called a serial transverse enteroplasty procedure (STEP), where the bowel was cut and stapled in a zig-zag pattern to narrow and lengthen it.

Jamie, who only has 20cm of his bowel remaining, is drip-fed for 12 hours four nights a week at home. This procedure, total parental nutrition (TPN), drips through a needle or catheter placed in his vein for ten to 12 hours. TPN is used for patients who cannot or should not get their nutrition through eating.

This has reduced since his operation and his family hope this will reduce even further to two nights a week next year.

His mother Michelle Stones, 34, praised his "little trooper" for his recovery from the operation but says she faces a wait to see if he can stop having TPN altogether and also if he needs any future operations.

Mrs Stones said: "He has been absolutely brilliant for the last few months.

"He had an operation in September, it was successful but we don't know for a year, if it's been fully successful or not.

"If this operation has been successful, thinks will be okay.

"It's an uncertain future, it's a waiting game.

"There is no more future surgery planned at the moment. Just to get him off his TPN is the priority.

"The worrying never stops. You never know what's round the corner with Jamie. Infections can put him back in hospital."

Jamie was born at 27 weeks and was initially diagnosed with Necrotising Enterocolitis (NEC), an inflammation of the bowel that damages the bowel. This condition usually occurs in about three in 10,000 babies.

He underwent his first surgery at three weeks old, when he weighed only 2lbs, and was given only a ten per cent chance of survival.

But despite his constant trips to hospital for surgery, Mrs Stones said Jamie still remains positive.

She added: "He is a happy-go-lucky boy. He went back to school after six weeks. It affected him but he bounced back.

"We call him a little superhero. He is a fighter."

Jamie was given a treat in May this year when he and his family were picked up by a limousine outside Parklands Primary School, Thorp Edge, where he is a pupil, for a four-day trip to Disneyland Paris.

The trip was funded by Starlight, an organisation which grants wishes for seriously and terminally ill children.

Friends, family and an online donation page raised £1,420 which the family used as spending money.