NHS to open new epilepsy treatment centres

I met a pretty fair footballer today - a sixteen year-old with talent obvious even just in a kick-about with his mate.

And its pretty astonishing that Antoni Spooner can play at all, because Antoni used to suffer from epilepsy that completely blighted his life.

When he was seven he was regularly having 20 fits a day. His mother Nikki Featherstone told me that one day, he had 100 fits, one after the other with barely a minute's gap between them.

Now not only is Antoni a regular with the Cerebral Palsy team, he's also being considered for the FA disabled team and, he's been selected as one of the Olympic torch bearers in East London.

All that's down to an operation he had when he was eight at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

His epilepsy was resistant to drugs and surgery was the only real treatment available. Its pretty serious - they effectively severed the connections between the two halves of Antoni's brain.

That's left him weak on his right side - he has little sensation in his right hand or wrist and his right ankle and foot.

But he and his mother are certain that's been offset by the fact that he just doesn't have fits any more.

Brain surgery is a last resort for the 200 000 or so people who have epilepsy that's drug-resistant.

But its success rate if high - about 80 per cent for the right patients. About 125 children a year currently have the operation - many of them at Great Ormond Street.

But now the NHS is to triple that number - its estimated at least 350 children a year could benefit. there will be three new centres for the treatment - in Bristol, Manchester/Liverpool and Birmingham.

Professor Helen Cross, The Prince of Wales's Chair of Childhood Epilepsy at Great Ormond Street says:

"Having four expert services across the country will enable us to make this surgery available to far more children, as well as reduce current waiting times for assessment for possible surgery.

"Having this type of procedure can make a huge difference. Many children are completely seizure free after their operation and go onto lead more normal lives."

Epilepsy Action’s Deputy Chief Executive, Simon Wigglesworth said:

"This announcement makes that life changing treatment available to more children.

"Not least for Antoni - and who knows? - England are desperately short of good left-footed players!"