A STRETFORD mum said she's feeling 'elated and overwhelmed' after learning her daughter will undergo the surgery she and her husband believe will dramatically improve her ability to walk.

Jo McMurray said seven year old Leila will have the procedure known as a selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) on Thursday (September 18) after the family and their supporters raised £27,000.

The 43-year-old from Hillingdon Avenue, said those who backed the fundraising campaign were 'the best people in the world.'

Jo's elation is shared by her husband Tom, 41, and she said Leila, who has cerebral palsy, is looking forward to receiving the surgery.

She added: "We're extremely grateful to every single person who has helped in this. Every donation and every effort, big and small, has been crucial - we are very humbled by this experience.

"We were elated to reach our target and we immediately booked a date for Leila's operation. It's all been quite overwhelming - we couldn't believe how quickly the money was raised.

"it just seemed to snowball once we reached a certain amount, and people kept coming up with more and more inventive and brilliant ways to fundraise. We have been very lucky."

Jo said it has taken six months to raise the cash and the money has been raised in a variety of ways, from online donations to a 100 mile bike ride by Cheshire Mavericks junior cycle club.

Funds were also raised at a poetry competition at Oswald Road Primary School in Chorlton - where Leila is a pupil. A cycling party held at Longford Park by the all-ability cycling group Simply Cycling also helped raise cash.

Jo added: "We're all feeling 100% positive that the operation will help Leila enormously."

She is an English teacher at Loreto Sixth Form College in Manchester, and she and Tom have three other children, John, Sam and Jake.

Leila McMurray will be the third north Trafford child to receive SDR surgery, with Urmston resident Aidan Worth and Old Trafford boy Haris Nadeem. Both youngsters parents said they have seen a marked improvement in their walking ability.