A STERILISED woman who lost three of her four children in a fire is being the given the chance to rebuild her family

A surgeon who was moved by the plight of Judith Braine, 32, has offered to reverse her sterilisation for free.

Judith and her husband Darren, also 32, lost three out of four of their children in the house fire last year.

The blaze killed six-year-old Leah, Darren, five and their three-year-old sister Demi.

The couple desperately want new brothers and sisters to keep their surviving child, Lewis Lennox Braine - named after world champion boxer Lennox Lewis - company.

But regulations which disqualify couples from having operations to reverse female sterilisation if there is an existing child, mean the Braines cannot have surgery on the NHS.

Gynaecologist Michael Burke saw an item about the couple's plight on BBC television's Look North programme and picked up the phone.

"I was very moved by the plight of this family. Anyone watching would want to help and, because I happen to be a gynaecologist, I can help," said Mr Burke, who is a long-serving microsurgeon based at the private BUPA hospital in Washington, Wearside.

After meeting the couple, who live in Lynemouth, Northumberland, and talking through the potential pitfalls, the operation is due to take place in the next few weeks.

Mrs Braine said they tried the NHS first but were told they did not qualify as they had a child.

"They turned us down because they have a new rule that if you have one surviving child, they will not do it," she said.

A spokesman for the BUPA hospital said a donor had also offered a sum to offset the costs of the operation.