Two-year-old boy with rare condition is kept alive by daily of doses of Viagra

Oliver Sherwood has the sex drug crushed into his food four times a day to control pulmonary hypertension (PH), a rare condition that causes chronic high blood pressure.

Viagra improves blood flow, which boosts erectile function in adults, but also helps open the veins and capillaries to aid circulation in rare cases such as Oliver's.

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However, his future health is now under threat because of proposed cuts by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE).

As he grows up he will need to switch to more expensive treatments to control his condition - which may not be available if the cuts go ahead.

Desperate mother Sarah Sherwood, 34, has now launched a petition to keep funding for more expensive PH treatments on the NHS.

The mother-of-two, a part-time nurse from Hucclecote, Gloucester, said: "The dose isn't high enough to have the effect it would on adults. Viagra is an expensive drug but it's actually one of the cheapest to treat PH.

"When he started taking it the change was fantastic - I had my little boy back. We're just hoping it'll continue to work as he grows a bit older."

Sarah, who lives with husband Howard, 43, and older son William, five, added: "Cutting any of these treatments to save money is scandalous when lives are at stake."

Oliver, who has been suffering from breathing problems since he was nine months old, was finally diagnosed with PH at Bristol Children's Hospital in August last year.

He cannot walk more than a few steps without getting out of breath and a simple chest infection could kill him.

The condition, which affects just 4,000 people in the UK, can often lead to heart failure and damages the heart and lungs. It is so rare that only five children a year are diagnosed with it in the UK and sufferers are often misdiagnosed with asthma.

Sadly the current survival rate for most patients with Oliver's condition is around five years, even with medication such as Sildenafil - another name for Viagra.

Doctors can increase Oliver's dose of Viagra when his condition worsens, but as he grows there is no way telling how much longer the drugs will be effective.

NICE is currently considering whether to continue prescribing the more advanced treatment for PH, called Epoprostenol and Iloprost.

Experts are currently consulting with patients and clinicians on the guidance until March 25.

Sarah added: "The outlook for PH patients is not good - two to three years maximum - and we're not sure whether Oliver could go to pre-school because a chest infection could kill him.

"The only hope we had was that he would be maintained through medication but if anything happens in the future that hope may be taken away.

"If you can prolong someone's life, cost should not be a factor. We have to stand and fight this and that's why I want as many people signed up to this petition as possible."

A spokesman for the Pulmonary Hypertension Association said: "We want to get as many people as possible to say to NICE, 'Hands Off PH Treatments'."

Peter Littlejohns, NICE clinical director, said: "Our review of the evidence suggests that Sildenafil is both clinically and cost-effective in treating pulmonary arterial hypertension."