Just like any other eight-year-old boy Matthew Melly is looking forward to Christmas this year for the same reason most youngsters look forward to Christmas - presents.

But Matthew has already been given a very special, though unlikely-sounding, gift which will make Christmas even better for him: a tonsillectomy.

Last month we reported how Matthew, who had been having bouts of tonsillitis with increasing frequency for a year, and had been through more than 10 courses of antibiotics, had been told he would have to wait another 16 months for an operation to remove his tonsils.

As he had already missed out on 12 weeks of school his mother, Sigrun Jonsdottir, was in despair.

She said: ’In Iceland, where I come from, when you’re sick you have your tonsils out and that’s it.’

We asked Health Minister David Ashford to look into the case and he told us, rather surprisingly, that Matthew ’did not meet the current criteria at this time for a tonsillectomy’.

However, he did promise to look into the case to see if Matthew could be reassessed.

And, when Sigrun telephoned the ENT department at Noble’s Hospital a few days later she received an apology from them.

She was told that Matthew’s referral had been listed as a routine check-up so was not followed up properly and, following another consultation, his tonsillectomy was carried out last week.

All went well and Matthew should be fully recovered in time for Christmas.

His delighted mum said: ’Matthew is doing very well. He is on the mend now: still a little sore to swallow but getting there.’

In the Icelandic tradition, Sigrun and Matthew, along with her daughter and grandchildren, will have their festive meal together on Christmas Eve at her house in Douglas.

And this year, they will all have a special reason to celebrate.