A NEWPORT tot is who is battling for his life in end-stage kidney failure will undergo an operation which could prolong his life.

Doctors decided that four-year-old Leo Jones will have surgery for a procedure called a fistula - an abnormal connection between an artery and a vein in his arm - so he will be able to have dialysis without the use of tubes.

Previous attempts to give the Ringland youngster dialysis have failed because his body rejected the plastic tubes doctors used to carry out the procedure, causing him serious illness including peritonitis, which left him him fighting for his life.

A transplant with a kidney from his father Gareth Jones in May also failed and doctors cannot try again until he has grown.

Leo’s mum Katherine Whatley, 28, said the operation, which will take place in Bristol on October 26, was daunting but was the only way forward.

She said: “If it works it will give him a chance.”

If the fistula is successful Leo could be put onto dialysis for three hours a day, three times and week.

The Alway Primary School pupil was given just a ten per cent chance of survival when he was born with a tumour on his spine in 2005.

He survived a cardiac arrest at just two-weeks old after undergoing an operation to remove the tumour, which left his kidneys permanently damaged.

The Howe Circle lad takes a cocktail of seven different drugs a day and two injections a week to control his condition and will soon start having hormone injections to help him grow in the hope of a kidney transplant in the future.