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."