'Flesh-eating bug nearly took my four-year-old son'

The father of an aspiring professional wrestler who nearly died of a flesh-eating bug 10 years ago says he is determined to raise funds for a new cinema at the children's hospital which saved his life.

Charlie, from Blackpool, was treated at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital as a four-year-old after chicken pox led to him developing sepsis and necrotising fasciitis.

Charlie was initially admitted to Blackpool Victoria Hospital before medics transferred him to the specialist children's hospital 50 miles away.

"It was touch and go for several weeks," said the now 14-year-old Charlie's dad Ben.

The 43-year-old NHS employee said Charlie had been in a coma for more than a week, with surgeons carrying out life-saving surgery.

"When Charlie came out of the coma - and we knew it was going to be OK - I said to my wife [that] we want to help as a way of saying thank you.".

Since then Ben said his family had raised £23,000 for the hospital, focussing on raising funds for a purpose-built MediCinema inside Manchester Royal Infirmary.

"When Charlie was recovering in hospital after waking up from a coma, we would always watch films together as a family for weeks afterwards," he said.

The dad-of-two added: "Charlie had a portable DVD player and after everything he'd been through and having everything going at a million miles per hour, he just wanted to watch Scooby Doo and Batman, so we would watch them again and again together to keep him company.

"I lost count how many times I saw Scooby Doo!"

Now 14, Charlie and his 11-year-old brother Dexter are both wrestling-mad and are are members of a club in Blackpool.

They were recently handed a big surprise when they were given VIP tickets to see a wrestling event at the AO Arena in Manchester.

In reality, it was a ruse by BBC One's Michael McIntyre's Big Show.

The brothers were shocked to find their dad was involved in a spoof wrestling bout with the comedian.

"It was a great day anyway because they were so thrilled with the wrestling bill and the surprise just made it better," said Ben.

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