HAMPSHIRE youngster Danny Bond today lies in a hospital bed. It is a familiar place for the 20-year-old who suffers from superbug MRSA and an incurable bowel syndrome.

He estimates he has had more than 300 operations since birth and his life is split between hospitals and his bedroom at his parents' home in Totton.

The MRSA has meant more drugs and surgery. He has attempted suicide twice because of the constant pain which he likens to "giving birth twice at the same time".

He said: "I'm probably the only bloke who knows how it feels, I've experienced the pain."

Danny, who is receiving antibiotics at Southampton General Hospital because his stomach has stopped working, has the hopes and dreams of any normal young man.

While his friends lives are moving on he "gets as far as chapter two before going back to the first page of chapter one".

Every time he has had surgery he has ended up back in hospital - still ill.

Now Danny, whose nerves between his brain and bowel do not work, feels there is only one chance left for any quality of life.

He is waiting to see if renowned Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge will give him the go-ahead for the high-risk operation which he sees as a kill or cure.

Out of nine people who have had the operation, only two are still alive. Danny, a former pupil of Cedar School in Southampton, is currently being assessed for the transplant.

Danny said: "It's just been one operation after another and one huge disappointment, I have always been stuck in a hospital cubicle or in my own room.

"It has eaten away at my desire, my determination to live, to have any goals to try to achieve something.

"Where I used to cope with it very well I don't any more."

Talking about his life and the prospect of dying, he said: "It is a hard decision because I have a lot of people who care about me.

"There is a lot of emotional pressure on myself from family and friends. They don't mean it and I can understand it as I wouldn't want my mum or dad to die."

On an earlier stay in hospital, Danny refused surgery in a desperate bid to bring to a finish the enduring pain he suffers. Only at the last minute did doctors intervene.

He said: "Imagine yourself in a lot of pain 24 hours a day, not being able to achieve anything, having no social life in fact no life at all. It is my decision, I don't want any more surgery."

His mother and step-father have accepted his decision to die if the surgery fails.

His mother Beverley Dodds, a health worker at Southampton General Hospital, said: "I don't want him to die. I love him, but I love him enough to let him die."

His step-father, Det Insp Mike Dodds, from Winchester, said: "It's not right that he continues to suffer as he has. He is no longer an experiment to be kept alive because it is possible."

Danny's Decision is being screened tonight on BBC2's Southern Eye at 7.30pm.

Sir Ludovic Kennedy, president of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, said Danny's experiences make a cast iron case for the decriminalisation of euthanasia.

He said: "Danny has had more than 300 operations. I think it's terrible that anyone should suffer all of that. It is the quality of life that is important rather than the length of life, and Danny has no quality of life."

Southern Eye producer Andrew Head said: "When Danny first decided to refuse treatment a lot of people could not understand his decision. He wanted to make the programme to show the pain and emotional pressure that his illness causes.

"He had the full support of his parents, who allowed us to film in extremely difficult situations. We got to know the family very well over the past five months. Their courage and honesty has been inspiring."