IT IS an impossible choice for anyone.

Just five more years of life at the age of 16 – or a potentially life-threatening operation that will leave him unable to smile and possibly never walk again.

Aaron Brown suffers from a rare genetic disorder that causes benign tumours, having been diagnosed with Neuro-fibromatosis, or NF2, at junior school when his hearing started deteriorating.

Two years ago Aaron bravely underwent an 18-hour operation in which surgeons re-moved five tumours, leaving his parents Kerry and Kelvin and sister Sophie feeling the worst was finally over.

The Southampton teenager had stunned doctors after spending a month in a coma before regaining consciousness and making a fantastic recovery – even returning to Bitterne Park School and passing four GCSEs with C grades.

But two weeks before Aaron was due to start a sports studies course at Itchen College a routine MRI scan showed a tumour on the left-hand side of his head had grown and needed to be removed, as it is threatening to cut off blood flow to his brain.

Mum Kerry said: “We knew the tumour was there, but we were not prepared to be told it has got bigger. We thought we might have a few more years of respite before Aaron needed more surgery.

“We decided to give Aaron the choice of whether to have surgery. At first he said ‘No’. But without the operation, he would only have five years to live.

The operation, which Aaron will undergo today, carries huge risks.

“The consequences could be devastating,” said Kerry, 42. “They have got to remove his left facial nerve so he will lose the ability to smile again and will probably have total facial paralysis. The other side is already paralysed because he had a facial tumour.

“His balance is expected to be bad, because the operation is all around his ear area, and we are unsure if he will walk again.”

The ten-hour operation, which will take place in Addenbrooke Hospital in Cambridge, will leave Aaron with one remaining tumour, on the top of his brain, which is currently not growing. He also has six tumours on his spine, which give him chronic backache, and one on his arm.

Kerry, who will stay in Cambridge with Kelvin until Aaron is well enough to come back to the family home in Beverley Heights, Townhill Park, said: “The choice is have the operation or die. We live our life day to day and try not to think about things too much.

“We are all really scared. The sad thing is Aaron is happy and content with his life now. He was looking forward to starting college and things were going well.

“His positive attitude helps all of us. This has had a huge impact on us and all of Aaron’s friends. Emotionally we feel a bit battered, but it’s also made us a stronger family unit.”

Aaron, who has some hearing thanks to an auditory brain stem implant but relies on lip-reading, said: “I am not worried about it. If it means saving my life, then I will go for it. I’m not frightened – I know what to expect because I have had worse. Nothing can be as bad as last time.

“Believe in yourself and what you can achieve in life. Listen to your heart and not your head because your head just leaves you to stress and in your heart is what’s best.”