FOUR-year-old East Lothian youngster Cormac Fegan will become the first child in the United Kingdom to receive a drug on the NHS which could help his debilitating condition.

Cormac, who lives with his family in Longniddry, has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a muscle-wasting condition, which affects his ability to walk.

The drug Translarna is believed to help treat an underlying cause of the condition and could keep him walking for longer but, despite being EU approved, no one with Cormac's condition has yet to receive it in the UK.

Now, NHS Lothian has approved an Individual Funding Request from Cormac's family and he will start taking the drug when he turns five next month.

Cormac’s father Gary said the family were delighted by the decision.

He said: “This is really exciting for us, this gives us hope for the future and when new and innovative drugs come through in Scotland, Cormac should be eligible.

“We’ve heard all the horror stories from people in other parts of the UK, so we were prepared to have a fight on our hands. We felt a huge sense of relief when we received the news.

"We really hope the decision from NHS Lothian will put more pressure on other health bodies to provide it for all those affected.”

Duchenne muscular dystrophy causes muscles to weaken and waste, causing increasingly severe disability. Most of the 100 children born with the condition each year are full-time wheelchair-users by the age of 12, and are at risk from life-threatening heart and breathing problems from their teenage years.

NHS England has refused to fund Translarna for sufferers living there.

Robert Meadowcroft, chief executive of Muscular Dystrophy UK, said of the decision to provide Cormac's treatment: "This is a true landmark moment.

"It is the first time a therapy addressing a genetic cause of Duchenne muscular dystrophy will be funded by the NHS.

"We hope that Cormac’s case will be used as a benchmark for all the families in Scotland and, indeed, the rest of the UK."