WHAT a heartwarming turnaround!
This time last year, seven-year-old Taylor Turner was so ill, he was in a wheelchair and barely able to move.
Now, thanks to a heart transplant, he is a bursting with energy and has just bagged two medals at the British Transplant Games.
Mum Donna, 30, of Crown Avenue, Pitsea, cannot believe his transformation since his life-saving operation at Great Ormond Street Hospital last November.
She said: "He wasn't able to do any sports at all before his transplant because he used to be in a wheelchair, but just look at him now.
"Never in a million years did we expect he would win anything."
At the games, held in Edinburgh, Taylor won gold in the obstacle race and also picked up a bronze in the 50m sprint - which he ran in under nine seconds.
He also came fourth in the ball throw. Donna said Taylor was loving his new-found freedom and while other competitors at the games looked distinctly nervous on the starting line, cheeky Taylor was doing star jumps and lunges to warm up.
She said: "He's a bit of a character.
"If anything, he's got too much energy. He's a real handful."
Donna, single mum-of-four, is thrilled her son has finally overcome the rare heart disease, Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which has plagued him since birth.
Now she has no worries about him pushing his new heart to the limit.
She said: "He's up for anything. At the moment, everything he's trying he's succeeding at.
"He does kickboxing and football, and is always running around."
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