A FIVE-YEAR-OLD boy who has been fighting for his life since suffering serious head injuries while on holiday almost three months ago is making good progress, says his father.

Alek Malinka, who is a pupil at St Joseph’s School in Pickering, was injured in a sledging accident while on holiday with his dad, Peter, in the Czech Republic on February 20.

Since the accident Alek has undergone life saving surgery and has been in a coma, battling infections and facing other surgery.

His mum Ela and the couples three-year-old daughter, flew out to join her husband and son and the family from Thornton-le-Dale have been by his bedside ever since. Members of the Ryedale community and from all across the country have got behind the family to raise money to help fund Alek’s treatment and cover the cost of his flights back to the UK and the fundraising total so far stands at an incredible £18,000.

Despite facing another round of major surgery within the next few weeks which will involve reconstructing his skill using artificial bone following an infection, Peter says that Alek is showing signs of considerable improvement.

He said: “Alek is now recovering his strength after his latest operations and infection. We can see that his fighting spirit has not weakened at all and he is making good progress. His blood tests are showing improvement, he looks better and is picking up on weight again as he lost some due to the infection he got last week.

“These are all good signs and we are happy that things are on a way up and that there is no immediate danger to his life anymore.”

Peter said that the youngster is also a lot calmer, crying less and sleeping more as he begins to relax and experience different smells, tastes and sounds as well as visual stimulation.

Peter said: “He likes orange juice the most. All this is slowly having some effect in Alek's reactions which gives us motivation to keeping working with him as much as we can.”

Alek will need much longer to recover from this next operation in order to minimise the risk of infection and other complications so with this and their son’s best interests in mind, his parents have made the decision to have Alek treated in Poland at a specialist clinic.

Intensive neuro-rehabilitation clinic Budzik Wake Up Call Clinic in Warsaw specialises in arousing children from coma using various multi-sensory stimulation and rehabilitation techniques and will treat Alek as of May 19 when he is moved there.

Peter said: “We have looked carefully for the best place for Alek and we strongly feel that this is the best place for him.

“The clinic is also next to one of the best paediatric hospitals in Poland where we can plan for Alek to have his next operation.

“All the support we had and donations will allow both of us to stay with Alek for a long time and actively engage in his rehabilitation and make him feel safe with us around.”

The kind donations raised so far will also go towards additional supplements and treatments including reflexology and music therapy which are not currently offered under the normal clinic programme.

Peter said: “It is a huge weight off our shoulders knowing that we don’t have to worry about that side of things and that we have such a great crowd of friends standing behind us and helping us so much.

“Thank you with all our hearts.”

Alex Thornton, a family friend of the Malinka’s who has led the fundraising drive with the initial hope of raising £10,000, will take on the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge this weekend along with five other people with the hope of raising more money to support Alek’s recovery.

Alex said: “The challenge is to finish it within 12 hours. I am hoping that we can hit the £20k mark shortly after the walk.”

The current fundraising target is £30,000 to help provide Alek with the best possible recovery. To donate visit http://www.gofundme.com/pybl7g