WHEN young Faith O’Connor got an infection after her 9-hour brain operation dad Richard got scared.

What he and the doctors didn’t know was that she was allergic to Penicillin, and in a short space of time her lungs collapsed and her airway was closing.

As the hospital battled to save her in intensive care, Richard entered the chapel, had a little cry and prayed for help.

Just as he was leaving the phone call came to say Faith was getting better.

He popped back to the chapel to say thank you, then returned to hold Faith’s hand and get ready for her long battle to recover.

And it will be a long battle, for 8-year-old Faith from Dudley has to overcome the fact that doctors have operated to remove connections in her brain which will make her permanently weak on the left side of her body.

But it’s a battle being helped by lots of local people plus current and former players of West Bromwich Albion who have been sending donations and messages of support.

Richard describes her op as ‘having half her brain shut down.’

It was needed because since 2016 Faith has been wracked by more than 4,000 seizures.

She would get 10 to 15 a night, lasting 2-3 minutes and causing her body to convulse.

Many times single dad Richard has had to administer emergency medication.

If it had carried on, the fits would have left caused more and more damage to her body, putting her into a wheelchair and eventually killing her.

Today Faith is in the first weeks of an 8-week course of physiotherapy to help her cope with the results of the operation.

She will never lift anything with her left hand, will never have peripheral vision in her left eye, will never walk normally again.

But there’s a very good chance she will never have another seizure.

And what has definitely not been damaged is her personality.

Richard, from Warren’s Hall, says Faith has never complained, never moaned, and is back to her cheeky self. ‘She is golden.’

He says Faith, her twin sister Hope and older sister Ellie-Mae, 12, have been a tower of strength.

“I think I have needed them more than they have needed me.”

But Faith will need help for the future and Richard has launched a fundraising appeal for money for conversions at home and a special mobility vehicle to ensure Faith has the best and most independent future she can.

And a puppy.

“She is puppy mad, always asking me what type of puppy we will have, and a name and what sex it will be.

“It will help her, encourage her to walk and take her mind off things.”

Richard and Faith are both West Brom fans and both current and former players have been helping with donations, items to auction, good will messages and even a special video.

“I was nervous about asking for funds but my friend at West Bromwich Albion, Debbie Green, encouraged me and I am gobsmacked at all the people who have been so generous.

“I did not expect this in my wildest dreams.

“Complete strangers have been so caring.”

Richard also lavished praised on all those at Birmingham’s children hospital who have been so good ‘ever since I walked through the door back in 2016’ and the team at Tadworth in Surrey where she is undergoing recuperation.

Richard’s fundraising page is at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/faiths-hemispherectomy-operation?sharetype=teams&member=6163964&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_na+share-sheet&pc_code=ot_co_dashboard_a&rcid=f4faa583df9b4ef8aabd7183f056e507