A LITTLE boy whose body became a battleground in a series of operations to save his life is winning his four-year fight for survival.

Callum Jones was born suffering from a condition known as severe combined immuno-deficiency (SCID) disease, which meant he could not fight infection.

Two bone marrow transplants failed and on the third attempt with his body fighting the immune systems of three different people he was on the brink of death. Doctors feared he would not survive.

Now, four-year-old Callum is not only able to leave the isolation of living in a sterile bubble at Newcastle's General Hospital, he is also well enough to go to nursery school and mix with other children for the first time in his life.

His mother, Joanne, who lost her first son, Nathan, to the same condition 11 years ago, said that she could not believe Callum had made it this far.

"He's my little miracle," said Joanne, of Stockton, Teesside.

"Time and again we thought we'd lost him but he kept fighting back and now he's a little boy with a future. Callum has had a very difficult start to life but he's coped extremely well. I'm very proud of him."

Callum is now getting stronger and last month, for the first time in his life, he was able to eat by himself when his feeding tube was removed.

Last weekend, his family took their first trip to the seaside, at Whitby.