Battle to save Cerys Edwards' sight

Mar 2 2009 by Nick McCarthy, Birmingham Mail

TRAGIC Birmingham toddler Cerys Edwards needs an urgent operation to save her sight, her family disclosed today.

Her parents, Gareth and Tracey Edwards, from Sutton Coldfield, were dealt the blow just as they dared to believe she was making good progress in her fight to overcome catastrophic injuries inflicted by speeding driver Antonio Boparan in November 2006.

Now aged three, Cerys was left paralysed and brain damaged in a collision with a speeding car driven by millionaire’s son Antonio Boparan.

Cerys has been listed as a priority for the surgery, which will see botox injected into her eye at Heartlands Hospital.

Self-employed builder Gareth, aged 44, said: “It’s all because of the head injury she suffered in the crash.

“The doctors told us she needs the operation or she will go blind. It’s a big blow and it came as a shock because she had been making fantastic progress.

“Saving her sight is our priority.”

Cerys underwent a week of tests late last year, which left doctors “over the moon” with her progress.

Her family said she had made significant breakthroughs, including eating and drinking for the first time without tubes, standing without supports and breathing on her own for more than two minutes.

She will return to Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire for a week of treatment in June.

Last April, Boparan, 21, of Roman Lane, Little Aston, was jailed for 21 months after being convicted of dangerous driving.