SCHOOLGIRL Eve McGuire is off to the United States - to meet the doctors who are set to transform her life.

Eve, nine, from Yeadon, was born with the rare genetic condition Treacher Collins Syndrome which means not enough bone was formed in her face.

She has to have someone with her at all times - to monitor her breathing tube - and can't do some simple things, like go swimming.

But at the end of this month she will make the first of a series of trips to New York to meet the doctors and eventually to have a ground-breaking operation.

Her parents re-mortgaged their house and friends and family helped raise more than £90,000 in just a year to pay for the operation and the trips to New York.

Eve, who lives with her parents, Belinda and Michael, and brother, Daniel, 14, in Westfield Oval, is expected to have two outpatient appointments with leading Treacher Collins specialist Dr Joe McArthy before the operation.

Friend of the family, Neil Hunt, who set up a trust for Eve to raise the money needed to fund the trips to the United States, said the family was hopeful that the operation would be carried out before the end of the summer.

She will fly to New York with her mother for the first outpatient appointment on June 30 and return probably for one more appointment before the actual operation.

For the actual operation, Eve and her mother will need to spend around three months in New York.

Eve, who goes to West End Primary School, Horsforth, hears through a hearing aid, because she has no external ears, and has to breathe through a tracheostomy tube.

Because the tube can get blocked, she has to have someone with her at all times, including when she is at school, in case she needs help.

Mr Hunt said: "With the breathing tube gone, there will be a number of important benefits, at the moment there is the potential for the tube to block at any moment which means there always has to be someone on hand to un-block it and it also has to be replaced every so often.

"Once the tube has gone, she will get a great deal of independence. She can't go swimming at the moment, but once the tube has gone, she will be able to go swimming with her friends."

Following the operation, Eve is likely to face more operations to further improve her quality of life, including making her hearing easier.

"Once the breathing tube has gone, everything leads on from that. This is the first stage, some other operations can be done under the NHS in this country and it might not be necessary to go to America," added Mr Hunt.

l Anyone who would like to help can write to the Eve McGuire Trust, PO Box 178, Rawdon, Leeds. LS19 6WZ or visit the website at www.evemcguire.org