Dane Stanley is one brave five-year-old boy. Just three weeks ago he underwent surgery in the hope that he will one day be able to walk again.

Dane has cerebral palsy, which is believed to have been caused by his premature birth, at 29 weeks. Royal Children’s Hospital neurosurgeon Alison Wray said the radical eight-hour spinal operation, called a selective dorsal rhizotomy, was rarely performed. But the surgery means that Dane is now expected to be back walking in his frame in about three weeks.

Dane’s mum Janine Stanley said “he was a happy little boy who was desperate to do all the things Cole (Dane’s identical twin brother) and six-year-old brother Jake did, but sometimes found it just too difficult.

Read the Herald Sun feature here: A big step forward for Dane Stanley