Wheelchair-bound Benny travels to China for treatment

A trip of a lifetime could help a Farnham Royal resident walk again.

Generous supporters have helped raise £25,000 in just six months to send wheelchair-bound Benny Hutton to China for stem cell replacement treatment.

Benny, 23, and his mum, Beverley Reilly, 48, flew to Beijing yesterday before heading on to northern China where he will spend a month having injections into his spine and undergoing physiotherapy and acupuncture.

"I have got a mixture of excitement and nerves," said Benny.

The former Burnham Upper School pupil was working as a barman in Greece four years ago when he was found unconscious at the bottom of concrete steps near his apartment.

Fun-loving Benny was in a coma for a month before undergoing weeks of extensive rehabilitation.

The accident left the former Burnham Leopards footballer with partial brain damage and Ataxia - a rare condition that affects the neurological system and causes him to shake.

Mum and son read about the treatment which, while not curing the Ataxia, could help him stop shaking and walk again.