IT was when cheering teenagers gathered around two-year-old Hannah as she danced, that Allison realised that things had changed for ever.

Hannah's parents, Allison and Keith Maxwell-Jones, thought long and hard before deciding to make a public appeal for funds.

They knew that the kind of money it would take to fly their daughter to a top American centre for surgery was beyond any normal family's reach. And the knowledge that Hannah was likely to have to return for up to another four operations convinced them they had to go to the media to ask for help.

Hannah was born with a seemingly trivial facial blemish which rapidly grew into an ugly, dark-red swelling. The alarming growth was eventually diagnosed as a compound haemangioma, an angry explosion of blood vessels which have grossly distorted her face, mouth and right eye.

Laser treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital had little effect and Hannah's parents grew increasingly desperate. It was clear to them that, unless something was done to help their daughter, she would be doomed to spend her adult life with the kind of facial deformity that would make normal life very difficult.

Determined to try to do the best for her, the Nunthorpe couple searched on the Internet for more information about Hannah's rare condition.

But it was a chance meeting with a family at Great Ormond Street that led to a breakthrough. The couple put Allison and Keith in touch with an American called Lindon Shannon who founded a group called the Vascular Birth Mark Foundation after her darughter was born with a large haemangioma on her lip.

She told the couple that her daughter had been successfully operated on by Professor Milton Waner of the Arkansas Children's Hospital.

The Maxwell-Jones sent a hopeful e-mail to Prof Waner and within 48 hours he replied - saying that he thought he could probably help their daughter and a meeting with the surgeon in London last November led to a firm offer to operate on Hannah.

Amazingly, Prof Waner made it clear that he would operate for free, but the British couple would have to cover the costs of accommodation, travel and medical supplies.

With some trepidation, the Teesside couple decided to grab this opportunity with both hands and go public. And, within days of The Northern Echo publicising Hannah's plight, the cash started pouring in. By February, the fund stood at an amazing £24,000.

But it didn't stop there. Although the family have kept a low profile while they waited for an operation date, the fundraising has continued unabated. Last night, Allison revealed that the total figure so far has now passed the £55,000 mark.

But even more than the money, Allison believes that the publicity about Hannah has changed the public's attitude to facial deformity to an extent she could only dream of. "I believe that what The Northern Echo's coverage of Hannah's story has done is to touch people and change attitudes. I didn't realise it would do that because, before we went public, we encountered so many difficult situations because of the way Hannah looked," says Allison, who has become a member and supporter of a charity called Changing Faces, which campaigns for greater acceptance for people with facial deformity.

"I was surprised because it seems that so many people have opened their hearts and their minds to Hannah and people like her," she says.

Allison believes her daughter's story has made people think twice about their own feelings towards people who are different. "It makes them realise that life is not as simple, not as cut and dried, as the media and television make out. It makes them realise that the human body can look different," she says.

From being a child who led a sheltered life, Hannah has now become something of a North-East celebrity. Instead of being shunned, she is now more likely to be the object of admiration and support.

Allison realised things had changed forever when she took Hannah along to a fund-raising disco at her local church hall. "All these kids were stood around chanting 'Hannah, Hannah' and cheering as she danced. I asked myself would this have happened if we hadn't started fund-raising. I think the answer is no," says Allison.

Apart from continuing her work as an intensive care nurse at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, Allison has also found herself in demand as a speaker.

"People have asked me if I would go along and tell Hannah's story. That has included youth clubs, schools and research groups. It has really changed my life," she says.

She was particularly impressed at the maturity of 13 and 14-year-old pupils at her local school, Nunthorpe Comprehensive, who were enthusiastic about the campaign after sitting through a harrowing programme of medical slides.

A great source of satisfaction to Allison is the feed-back she has had from people who have suffered discrimination because of their appearance. "People have come to me and said all the publicity about Hannah has helped their situation, which is wonderful," says Allison.

One of the things she tells groups is that people should not be afraid to smile at someone who is different to them. "The bravest thing and the hardest thing is to smile at that person. I used to be absolutely elated if someone smiled at us when I was with Hannah. The smile was an acknowledgement that I had a child with me," says Allison.

While she has been thrilled at the apparent change of heart of many people, she has not managed to overcome her apprehension at what lies ahead for her two year old daughter.

"I haven't even got mixed feelings about the trip, I am just apprehensive," she says. "Not because I have any doubts, but I know that I am taking my daughter to America for major surgery."

While Hannah's future happiness could depend on the outcome of surgery, Allison is fully aware that she is putting her daughter through surgery when her condition is not life-threatening.

The very fact that she is an experienced intensive care nurse has, paradoxically, added to the pressure.

"You expect yourself to cope because you are a nurse. Because I do this sort of thing every day, it is expected that I can do this for my daughter. In some ways, I am even more scared because I am well aware of the precarious line that they tread during major surgery," says Allison.

The first of up to five operations is provisionally scheduled for September 25, when Prof Waner will aim to remove some of the bulk of blood vessels distorting the right side of Hannah's face and begin to improve the alignment of her top lip.

Allison says she has complete faith in Prof Waner and his unique team and feels "honoured" that Hannah was accepted as a patient. Earlier this year, Prof Waner, who has successfully transformed the faces of scores of severely disfigured children, told The Northern Echo: "For me, to be able to help these children is the greatest reward."

The Maxwell-Jones are due to fly home in early October and the family hope to get back to some semblance of normality.

Allison says: "I don't want to turn Hannah into some kind of local hero. She is an ordinary kid who can be just as stroppy as the next two-year-old and that is the way she is going to stay."