AN AGONISING wait for a neck operation may soon be over for a Southampton man who fears that just one jolt can kill him.

Today, 46-year-old salesman Tony West, who has had his urgent operation cancelled three times, thanked the Daily Echo for highlighting his plight and helping to speed up the vital surgery he needed.

Mr West, of Bitterne Park in Southampton, has a bone missing in his neck, and has been told that a minor car shunt can kill him or leave him paralysed.

He contacted the Daily Echo after neck fusion surgery, scheduled for June 12 at Southampton General Hospital, had been cancelled on the eve of the operation.

He had already written to Southampton Itchen MP John Denham in March, after the operation had been cancelled twice.

Now Mr West, who was given a new date on September 4, has been told he will not have to wait that long - he is now scheduled for the operating table at the end of next month.

Mr West said: "Due to a cancellation, I have been told the operation has been brought forward to July 31. I have to ring in on the day to check that it is still on, but it is great news.

"Thanks to the Daily Echo publicity, something has started to happen."

Mr West told the Daily Echo how he was too frightened to go in the car after being told that an accident, even a shunt, could cause his spinal chord to be severed.

"As a salesman, just doing my job could kill me," he said. Mr West said he had been calm and understood the pressures that the NHS was under, but to have his operation cancelled in January, March and June was too much.

He said the surgery cancellations had turned his life upside down.

"While I have been waiting, I have had to completely rearrange my life. I have had to work from home, because I have not been able to drive.

"I am a lead guitarist in a rock'n'roll band but I have had to get cover while I wait for the operation."

Mr West's condition came to light after a scan in November 1999. The operation lasts about five hours, and he is expected to remain in hospital for up to three weeks.

A spokesman for Southampton General Hospital confirmed that Mr West's operation would be on July 31.

"We had a patient booked in for that date and it was cancelled. We recognised the urgency of Mr West's case and took the opportunity of having him in earlier."