HE will walk and smile again – and his friends will be there to see it.

Brave teenager Aaron Brown has undergone a dangerous 11-hour operation which could have left him facially paralysed and possibly unable to walk. Without it, though, Aaron was given just five years to live.

But the surgery has been a success – so much so that today Aaron was due to come home to Southampton. He will be greeted by dozens of friends and family who are gathering to welcome him back.

Doctors were able to save the 16-year-old’s facial nerve in the operation, meaning he will keep his smile.

He has also been up on his feet and has had physiotherapy to help him walk again.

Aaron underwent the operation to remove a brain tumour at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge.

Mum Kerry, who has stayed in Cambridge with dad Kelvin throughout this week, said: “The surgery went really well. They removed the tumour from Aaron’s cochlea and they managed to save his facial nerve.

“He has been very groggy and in a lot of pain, but the outcome of the surgery is a lot better than we were expecting.

“It is fantastic that he will still be able to smile, we are really pleased.

“He is being discharged tomorrow so we’ll be coming home. He is doing really, really well and we can’t wait to get him back to Southampton.”

As reported in the Daily Echo, Aaron, of Beverley Heights in Townhill Park, suffers from a rare genetic disorder, called neurofibromatosis or NF2, that causes benign tumours.

Two years ago Aaron had an 18-hour operation in which surgeons removed five tumours. He then spent a month in a coma before stunning doctors by waking up and making a fantastic recovery – even returning to Bitterne Park Secondary School to take his GCSEs.

His family thought the worst was over, but a routine scan last summer showed a tumour on the left-hand side of his brain had grown and was threatening to cut off blood flow to his brain.

This has now been removed, leaving Aaron with one remaining tumour on the top of his brain, six tumours on his spine and one on his arm, none of which are dangerous at the moment.