A MUM is taking part in the Great North Run to thank doctors who carried out life-changing surgery on her daughter.

Alison McLeod is raising money for Great Ormond Street Hospital and Edinburgh Sick Kids’ Friends Doundation after daughter Samantha underwent complex brain surgery.

Samantha, 11, had the procedure to try and cure her epilepsy, which she has suffered from since birth.

The youngster, who is autistic, had up to 30 seizures a day and medication failed to bring them under control.

In August last year, parents Alison and Peter took the difficult decision to allow surgeons at GOSH to carry out a temporal occipital parietal resection – an operation which detaches the affected part of the brain from the spine and nerves, effectively shutting it down.

Alison said: “Samantha’s epilepsy is drug-resistant and, because she is autistic and has quite profound learning disabilites, other treatments were not suitable.

“We were worried about complications [of surgery] but she was having up to 30 seizures a day and we decided to go ahead with it.” The family, who live in Longniddry, along with Samantha’s older brothers Christopher, 15, and 14-year-old Nicholas, travelled to the London hospital last August for the operation.

Since then, Samantha’s epilepsy has become much less severe and they hope it will eventually disappear.

Alison said: “For a few months there were no seizures, there have been a few since but not of the severity which Samantha had in the past.

“It can take two years for the brain to settle following this kind of surgery, so we are still waiting but we are so grateful to the doctors for their support.” Alison is running in the famous Newcastle to South Shields race next Sunday (September 7), with friend Gill Archibald.

The pair have already held a fundraising disco at the Longniddry Inn.

Donate at virginmoneygiving.com/team/AlisonandGill