A young mum has made a heartfelt plea to Stormont Health Minister Michael McGimpsey: “Save my beautiful boy’s life.”

Carter Buchanan (2) has battled for survival virtually since birth with a rare form of epilepsy that can cause up to 16 seizures in a day. Sunday Life has closely followed Carter’s journey of hope and revealed last week that he had undergone his first test in Chicago’s world-famous Children’s Memorial Hospital.

The top physician who saw the tot was in no doubt he would benefit from pioneering treatment.

The expert assessment was a major boost to Carter’s battling mum Emma — but she now faces a heartbreaking dilemma.

For unless she can raise a staggering £165,000 within the next month to cover the battery of tests and intensive therapies Carter needs, she will have to fly him home.

Twenty-five-year-old Emma, who lives in Holywood, Co Down, with her partner and two other young children, is praying Mr McGimpsey will become the family’s Good Samaritan.

In a ‘Dear Minister’ letter, Emma reminded him of a promise he made that there would be funding available for treatment for all children who need it, provided they have exhausted the options available on the NHS.

And she carefully outlined Carter’s medical history, telling the minister: “During the past two years Carter has been on at least 23 anti-convulsion drugs and two steroid treatments trying to stabilise him.

“Unfortunately he has responded to none and due to uncontrollable seizures is unable to walk or talk. All the options have been explored, but no one seems able to cure his condition.

“I asked for a second opinion at Great Ormond Street in London in January 2007 and we had four days of telemetry monitoring carried out on Carter. But to date we have no record of anything they found during his stay. I have explored all avenues in relation to finding answers for my son’s condition and was forced to take matters into my own hands.

“Knowing my son’s life was at risk, I searched high and low and found the Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago which has treated other children suffering critical and prolonged fits. Since arriving in Chicago Carter has undergone a 24-hour EEG and Dr Nordili (head of the hospital) was able to reveal he was suffering more seizures that even we were aware of.”

Emma also pointed out that the family has raised £15,000 for Carter’s initial treatment, but face mounting bills as it continues.

“We desperately need your help,” she wrote. “I am asking if you, as minister of health and as a parent yourself, can give my son the chance of life he deserves.

“Unless we get help we’ll be forced to return home before Carter’s treatment has really begun — everything we’ve done will have been in vain.”

</>\[Chris Cairns\]And Emma also urged the minister or his officials to open dialogue with the Chicago clinic, which has already treated five children from Northern Ireland.

“It could be mutually beneficial and the exchange of knowledge and expertise could lead to a breakthrough that one day might ensure other children like Carter don’t have to travel 4,000 miles to get the treatment they need,” she added.

As she awaits a reply from the minister, Emma’s friends and family in Holywood are still frantically trying to boost Carter’s fighting fund.

l Donations can be made to Carter’s Journey of Hope, Northern Bank, Holywood, account number 10041866, sort code 95-03-32