AN Atherton mother is appealing for help for her son who was left paralysed by an accident on a family holiday in Portugal.

Eighteen-year-old Cory Peyton, of Keats Close, damaged his spinal cord after he dived into a swimming pool and hit his head on the floor in July 2013.

His mum Michelle has now set up a GoFundMe page in a bid to raise the £35,000 needed for private treatment in Thailand that should see him realise his dream of walking again.

She said: “It would mean the world to me to see him walk again. I know it’s a long road but it would mean everything to him and me.”

Cory was treated in a Lisbon hospital immediately after the accident and then at Southport and Formby District General Hospital, but after extensive treatment and rehab he was told that he would have to live with being paralysed as ‘no more could be done’.

Michelle then fundraised for the money needed for Cory to be treated privately and in March he went to Thailand for stem cell treatment he was told would help him – and it did!

Michelle said: “It was amazing and it was his choice to go over there, and now he can stand for an hour with a standing frame, whereas before it was only seconds.”

The treatment Cory received had a dramatic effect on the teenager, who has gone from being a tetraplegic to being able to stand for a short time, use his hands to go on the computer and even a mobile phone.

Before his accident Cory was into sports, particularly boxing, but his biggest fight now is trying to prove some doctors wrong by walking again.

Michelle said: “I was so amazed with how well he did just after 17 days, but if he could go back my hope is that one day we can get him walking.”

The £35,000 needed for a second spell of treatment in Thailand would include getting an epidural stimulation device fitted to Cory’s spinal cord, which should help him to walk.

Michelle said: “We’re hoping we can get people’s help again. The cost is very high but any donations will help.”

To donate visit gofundme.com/corypeyton.