TWO young brothers bound by a potentially life-saving operation are closer than ever, according to their mum.

Five-year-old Herbie Taylor, from North Leigh, near Witney, is now back home after sibling Rufus, six, donated bone marrow to try to boost his younger brother’s dangerously low immune system.

Herbie spent almost 10 weeks at the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London recovering from the transplant, which Rufus said made him feel like a “superhero”.

The boys’ mum, Emily Taylor, 46, said: “They’ve got a great relationship and like to be together.

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“A day probably doesn’t go by without a mention of the fact that Rufus saved Herbie’s life.

“It’s probably affected him more than the rest of the family. He’s an emotional little boy and found it quite tough seeing his brother unwell.

“But it’s good they can play in the garden together again and it’s brought them closer together.”

Doctors diagnosed Herbie with NEMO syndrome – which affects the body’s ability to fight bacteria – when he was two after he suffered from bacterial meningitis and the lung infection empyema.

Last November he caught a mycobacterial infection from his sister Lily, 11, who was diagnosed with a similar condition to Herbie a year ago.

Herbie spent most of the Christmas period in Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital before he was transferred to the Great Ormond Street Hospital.

The family agreed to the bone marrow transplant in May to strenghten his immune system with more white blood cells.

It involved using a needle to extract bone marrow from Rufus’s spine and injecting it into Herbie.

Herbie returned home in July but his mum said he had a “rollercoaster” summer, in and out of the John Radcliffe Hospital, while he continued to take medication.

He is currently housebound and cannot return to North Leigh Primary School with his brother until January.

But Herbie is now fully engrafted with Rufus’s cells and on the road to recovery.

Mrs Taylor said: “They really missed each other.

“There’s a lot of places he can’t go to, like parks, the cinema or shops, and it’s quite isolating.

“His friends were planning for school in the summer and have all moved class now, but he’s stuck at home with his mum.”

Lily, who has a twin called Kitty, may also need a bone marrow transplant and is looking for a donor with a 100 per cent match.

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