Mahendra Ahirwar, 13, has a rare condition that made his neck muscles so weak his head hung at a 180-degree angle, which made him restricted to just sitting as he was unable to stand or walk and needed help to eat and go to the toilet.
His life has been transformed, thanks to a stranger, mother-of-two, Julie Jones (pictured with him above) living 4,000 miles away in Liverpool who read about his plight and launched a crowd funding page to raise £12,000 for his surgery.
Spine surgeon, Dr Rajagopalan Krishnan, from Apollo Hospital, in Delhi, offered to help. Now the Mahendra can do the same things other boys his age can – like go to school.