Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s an absolutely super boy

SUPERHEROES don’t just belong in comic strips – and little Jackson Waddell is proof of that.

The six-year-old, who suffers from Cerebral Palsy, joined 3000 other runners in Glasgow’s George Square yesterday for the Great Scottish Family Mile.

Jackson, from Irvine, Ayrshire, competed in the family run with mum Jacqueline, dad Craig and younger sister Ruby.

It was a momentous occasion for the sport-loving Superman, as he raises money for life-changing surgery.

Mum Jacqueline said: “Doctors here told us he’d never walk and didn’t fit the criteria.

“It is his dream to walk so we researched everything we could and found this experimental treatment in America. The US doctors said he has the potential to walk.

“We didn’t want Jackson to grow up and think that his mum and dad didn’t do everything they could to give him the best chance of walking.”

Meanwhile, Freya Brown, seven, was full of life as she completed the race with dad Martin despite having been diagnosed with Pulmonary Atresia at birth, undergoing open heart surgery and being in and out of hospital most of her life.

Until recently Freya would become breathless and have blue lips and fingers from a lack of oxygen, but the youngster looked fighting fit before and after her race.

She easily finished ahead of Martin, who said: “She’s way fitter than me now.”

Her mum Natalie said: “You’d never know she had any medical issues. She’s so full of life and fit.”

Generous Freya said: “I just wanted to race to raise money for other sick children – I know what it’s like.”

Some 12,000 will take to the city’s streets today for the Great Scottish 10k and Great Scottish Half Marathon.

Organiser Alex Jackson said: “Saturday was all about kids getting to feel like a hero.”

To donate to Jackson’s fund go to justgiving/fundraising/jacqueline-waddell