A SEVERELY brain damaged five-year-old boy has said his first word after travelling to America to swim with dolphins.

Luke Hill, five, asked to join the dolphins after therapists encouraged him to swim with the creatures in Florida.

But his jubilant family are insisting that the hard work to improve the youngster's life is just beginning.

Luke, of Shadsworth, Blackburn, can not walk or talk because his skull was fractured as a baby and his development has only reached the level of a 15-month-old child.

But parents Nigel and Lisa were convinced he could learn to communicate after hearing about the new American therapies for mentally disabled children.

Luke's grandfather, Brian Nolan, set up a charity with help from members of St Paul's Working Men's Institute, Montague Street, Blackburn, a year ago.

The kind-hearted campaigners raised more than £10,000 to pay for the trip through star nights, sponsored slims and many other events and the family's dream came true when they flew to Florida last month.

Lisa said she cried when Luke was first taken in the sea with the dolphins. She said: "The first session was very emotional because he absolutely loved it. "It was well worthwhile all the work to raise the money just to see the smile on his little face."

Luke had ten sessions with an occupational therapist and physiotherapist at the side of the cordoned-off bay, concentrating on making eye-contact with him.

If he could point at a picture of a dolphin when he was asked to, he was allowed into the water as a reward. And he loved surfing through the water with the gentle animals so much, he said his first word "in". But his parents know he still has a long way to go before he can learn to communicate more fully.

Lisa said: "The dolphin centre are sending us a programme so we can carry on working with him. They'll also send us a video of Luke swimming with the dolphins so we can show it him as a reward when he gets something right.

"We are working on making eye contact and a very few simple words, gradually building up the number of words he can understand.

"At the moment he just finds it funny but we are going to keep at it." Lisa also plans to work on the programme with therapists at Dame Evelyn Fox school, which Luke attends.

Lisa and Nigel hope to take him back to the dolphin centre next year and have decided that, if campaigners can raise cash for the medical costs, they will find the rest of the money themselves.

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