This Morning viewers left gushing at 9-year-old boy’s vow to raise £5,000 for best friend’s life saving surgery

THIS Morning viewers were left completely smitten with a little boy's dedication to raise money for his best friend's life-changing spinal surgery.

Nine-year-old Luca Nelson-Crookshank appeared on the show alongside his mum and his best friend Caya to talk about his bid to raise money for his best friends operation in January.

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Caya, who suffers from cerebral palsy, is set to have an operation on her spine to help her walk better.

Her mum explained: "Her muscles are very tight in her legs. So she can get around OK now, but as she gets older her legs will get tighter."

She has since been raising for the SDR surgery to help relieve her daughter's pain- but the life-changing op is set to cost £31,000.

So Luca took it upon himself to help out his friend at Christmas and stepped in to help chip away at the astonishing cost.

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Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford looked completely charmed by the shy Luca, who revealed he was planning on running  six-and-a-half miles around his local park on Christmas eve in a bid to get people to donate the money needed.

The pair, who met in nursery, became firm friends when Luca said he found Caya "funny sometimes".

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He hoped to raise £5,000 towards the final cost of the surgery and at the time of his appearance had raised around £1,500.

By the end of the show, viewers had put their money behind the kids ahead of the Christmas period and added another £2000 to the total amount he had raised.

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In order to get him ready for the six and a half mile run in the cold, This Morning treated Luca to a training session with Iwan Thomas, who jogged with him around the park in preparation for the event.
Viewers flooded Twitter in support of Luca's plans, and one wrote: "Well I am sobbing at this little boy! How sweet  #ThisMorning"

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Another added: "Go on Luca well done little man. Hope you reach the target and have a fabulous Christmas #ThisMorning"

A third said: "Bless Luca.. Running six and a half miles to raise money for his best friend.. #legend #thismorning"

You can donate to Luca's efforts via his gofundme page . 

Catch This Morning, weekdays at 10.30pm on ITV1. 

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