HE has endured more than most adults could ever imagine.

A liver transplant, multiple bowel resections and the side effects of a rare syndrome have meant Aaron Higgins has gone through 32 operations.

At one point the nine-year-old told his mum he had endured enough, saying "Mummy, I want to go to heaven. I can't do this any more."

But now the amazing schoolboy is gearing up for this week's Transplant Games - and has his eye on a medal.

Mum Jacqueline, who has been a constant presence at her boy's side, said: "After all he's been through, he just wants his new life, he just wants to be normal.

"Through it all it was him that kept us going. We always knew he was in there, no matter how bad things were.

Video: Aarron Higgins walking for the first time after months of high dependancy hospital care following a liver transplant

"He's a very brave, special boy."

As told in the Evening Times in 2011, Aarron suffers from Alagille syndrome, a rare disorder that affects his liver and made him itch as though he was being bitten by thousands of mosquitos.

Before he was a year old he had surgery to put in an external biliary diversion stoma - a way of draining bile that was not being properly processed by his liver.

Because the bile was staying in his body, he itched all over and often haemorrhaged from ulcers that burst. The unbearable itching stopped him sleeping and so he could be awake for 36 hours straight.

Aarron wouldn't eat and so had to have a PEG feeding tube straight into his stomach.

His heart was enlarged, which caused him to become hypoxic - deprived of oxygen - and this would make him pass out

As well as this, he had bradycardia, where his heartbeat would slow down.

Aarron's liver cannot make Vitamin D so at the age of six he also developed osteoporosis and around the same time he was also diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a type of autism.

Jacqueline said: "The first time he conked out was at a birthday party when he was aged two. I remember running out of the party with him in my arms unconscious and then he suddenly came back to life.

"With the bradycardia you could see his colour changing when he lay down so I had to check on him every two hours to make sure he was ok."

Eventually the family had a heart monitor, a blood pressure monitor and an SAT machine at home.

The then-Yorkhill Hospital did not have the facilities Aarron needed and so he began to be treated at King's College Hospital in London.

Jacqueline said: "If his bile button popped out we would have to go to London to have it put back in.

"One minute you'd be fine, the next minute you would be on a flight to London. Eventually they allowed me to do it myself."

Doctors at King's decided Aarron needed a liver transplant to permanently cure his condition and he was under transplant assessment for three years.

Jacqueline, from Baillieston, said: "Your phone's like a bar of soap. Every time it rings you go to grab it and you're so nervous it flies out your hands.

"Then half the time it's PPI. You weren't allowed to go more than 20 minutes from the house in case you get the call so it affects your whole life."

It was third time lucky for the family: the first time the call came the liver was too fatty. The second time it was missing the vital portal vein.

Each false call meant a trip to London by air ambulance only to be sent home again.

Jacqueline said: "The first time there was a match at Ibrox and the traffic was stuck nose to tail as we went under blue lights to the airport.

"Then, at the other end, there were buses mounting the kerb outside Buckingham Palace to let us past.

"The second time was more relaxed. I was more scared the third time because I thought 'This is going to be it.'"

The third call came on December 19, 2016, with Jacqueline worried as she hadn't finished her Christmas shopping and was worried about leaving her little girl, Sophia, who turned three last week, at home.

In the end, Aarron's liver transplant went was a success but he ended up being in King's until March 29 before a further month in Glasgow Royal Children's Hospital after a series of severe bowel problems.

Aarron went for surgery at 11.45pm on December 19 but at 4.30am surgeons halted the operation to have a full team meeting as the outside of his liver was healthy and could be used for another transplant.

In the end, doctors decided not to go ahead with the second transplant and Aarron was in theatre until 1pm the following day.

They were unable to close Aarron's abdomen because the swelling was too severe.

Jacqueline said: "They took his dressings off and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. One of the nurses said, 'Are you alright, mum?' and physically shut my mouth with her hand. It was like something off the NCIS table."

A few days later Aarron required surgery to remove 15 cms of bowel, meaning he was in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) then the High Dependency Unit (HDU) before going back to the ward.

Aarron kept being sick and was unable to walk. It turned out his bowel had twisted and so he was taken in for another surgery to remove a further 15cm.

But Aarron kept being sick and this burst his stitches in his stomach, causing him to haemorrhage for 12 hours.

Aarron was given 14 units of blood while medics waited for an operating theatre to be free.

Jacqueline said: "They brought a blood warmer into the room and a nurse used a 20 inch syringe to put blood directly into his Hickman line.

"We had to use bath towels to mop up the blood. I was covered from head to toe in blood. At 4pm they took me out of the room because he was going in front of my eyes.

"The nurse said she had never seen a bleed like it.

"At 6pm two porters ran down with him to the operating theatre. He was three hours in theatre and they used surgical glue to put him back together.

"After this he had about nine days of screaming. He couldn't walk. He said to me, 'Mummy, I want to go to heaven. I can't do this any more.'"

Following this, Aarron also had a colon obstruction, meaning more surgery.

Medicine to sedate him was making him ill and so he spent three days on a ventilator wide awake.

Jacqueline said: "Doctors said the liver was the last thing they were worried about.

"Aarron would write, 'I'm missing mummy, go get mummy' on his iPad so I was by his side all the time.

"Because of his Asperger's syndrome he found being in the hospital very difficult with all the noises so we found special headphones to try to keep him comfortable."

During his ordeal Aarron had play therapy to try to help him understand what he had been through.

As he began to recover it was found that Aarron's colon had become stuck to his abdominal wall so surgeons were unable to close his body.

His abdomen ruptured, which meant a further night in ICU.

Doctors discovered a shell called an abdominal cocoon had formed around the bowel where surgery had been performed, which is incredibly rare.

In a further operation, surgeons took his whole bowel out and checked every inch and took the cocoon off.

It took 14 days for the bowel to begin working again, during which time doctors worried Aarron would need a bowel transplant.

Finally, after 32 operations and intense physiotherapy, Aarron walked for the first time on March 22, a birthday present to his aunt Sandra.

As well as praising the "amazing" King's hospital, Jacqueline also says Aarron's school, Swinton Primary was incredible.

The call for his transplant came while he was in class so classmates wrote to Santa to make sure he knew where to find Aarron and each child in the school wrote him a Christmas card.

Hundreds of cards were brought by Aarron's classroom assistant to London.

Aarron's liver came from a 36-year-old man and Aarron said it is "loving being in my tummy."

Jacquleine said: "He might be home but I feel as if I have not stopped yet. One of the other liver mums said she went to work one day and fell to pieces. Some days I do feel as though I could greet all day and never stop.

"Sofia is a total tonic and Aarron is great with her - he just wants to be playing with her."

Remarkably, Aarron is now gearing up to take part in the British Transplant Games this week where he will compete in the obstacle course and five-a-side football.

Some 13 members of his family are running the donor run - including Aarron's teacher- and eight nurses coming up from King's for the Games.

Aarron plans to run the 50 metre sprint on Sunday and has eyes on first place.

Jacqueline said: "It's going to be tears for souvenirs at the end."