A courageous schoolboy who went through a four-hour life-saving heart operation is now facing another challenge - school bullies.

Daniel Whybrow, 13, is feeling threatened by a group of boys at his school and his father is so concerned for his safety he is keeping him away from school.

His father Alan Whybrow, of Princess Drive, High Woods, Colchester, said: "Although the bullies know they can't actually beat him up, they keep asking him for a fight he can't have.

"He can't stick up for himself because if he gets hit in the chest, it could be very dangerous."

In 1999 Daniel, who goes to the Gilberd School, underwent a major operation to replace a closed-up heart valve.

Because the valve cannot grow with him, he will have to have it replaced again when he is 18.

He will have to have another operation to block a hole in his heart at the end of this month.

Assistant headteacher at the school, Paul Presland, said: "We have a meeting arranged between Mr Whybrow, myself and the head about this situation.

"The school has worked very hard to make sure that nothing exacerbates Daniel's medical problems and he is supervised to and from lessons and has someone to help him with his bags.

"When problems have come up before, we have sorted them out to everyone's satisfaction and although we were not aware of this current situation and Daniel has not reported it to us, we have arranged a meeting to discuss it."

Published Thursday, January 16, 2003

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