New hope for bedbound Northumberland woman

A young woman from Northumberland, who has to lie down flat all the time, says she's had big news about her potentially life saving surgery - which could now be carried out in Barcelona in Spain rather than in the US.

Melanie Hartshorn, who is 27, had originally set a fundraising target of £150 thousand pounds for the operation which would fuse the base of her skull to her spine, to prevent her from suffering fatal brain damage.

It's because Melanie suffers from a rare genetic condition - and that's left her completely bed-bound.

It's called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and means her joints dislocate and can't hold her body together.

A complication of EDS means her head and spine are unstable.

It's left the former student bedbound 24/7.

When she does leave the house she has to do so on a stretcher.

Now a neurosurgeon in the Spanish City has agreed to take on Mel's case subject to her raising £80,000.

Her current fundraising total is around £43,000.

The surgery will involve fusing her skull to her neck.

Mel has a fundraising page called Mel's Mission that she has been running from her bed to try and raise the necessary funds to save her life.