Boy, 2, with rare disease to undergo medical trial in US

AN IRISH boy with a rare brain disorder which claimed the life of his sister is set to become the youngest child in the world to undergo a pioneering medical trial.

Two-year-old Liam Heffernan, from Co Kerry, will jet out to New York later for this month with his parents, Tony and Mary, to receive the groundbreaking gene transfer treatment at the prestigious Weill Cornell University Hospital.

To date, only four American children have received the treatment. But one child spoke her first words just 10 days after her operation and began to walk with assistance a short time later.