Ollie Cartwright, his sister Ellie, mum Julia and dad Mark were given the VIP treatment as they attended the Pride of Britain awards on Monday at ITV's London Television Centre.

There wasn't a dry eye in the house as Ollie's granddad "Popsie" was flown in from Spain to present him with a Child of Courage award.

This topped off an amazing week in which Oliver and his mum were flown to Madrid for a private meeting with David Beckham, Ollie's footballing hero.

Ollie, from Northampton, was born with rare skull disease Pfieffer's Syndrome, and has endured 15 major operations and more than 100 procedures under anaesthetic in his short life.

Ollie has been treated at Oxford's Radcliffe Infirmary and operated on by surgeon Steve Wall and his team.

His family said they were looking forward to the opening of the new children's hospital in January.

Mum Julia said: "Oliver's surgery was not carried out for cosmetic reasons, all of his operations have been carried out due to medical necessity but the by-product of that has been my beautiful little boy.

"Oliver still has surgery ahead of him and I hope that he will get through it all as well as he has the last 130 procedures.

"Having all the children's services under one roof will just be fantastic - no more following the ambulance through the streets of Oxford wondering if our little boy would be alive when we got there.

"But, more importantly, immediate care and life-saving equipment right there, which gives Oliver the best chance of surviving the sorts of major surgery that he has to have.

"In my book that should be offered as a matter of course in this technological day and age."