AN inspirational young Hereford boy is to appear with his family on a special episode of the Jeremy Kyle Show later this month.

Born nine weeks early alongside his twin sister, Charlotte, medics discovered that Sebastian Farmer had hypoplastic left heart syndrome which meant the left side of his heart was critically underdeveloped.

He had his first bout of open heart surgery aged just four months old and has since undergone two other major operations. His family will have to make annual trips to Birmingham Children's Hospital for check-ups and although he is currently stable, Sebastian will eventually require a heart transplant.

To help raise awareness of the condition – and in a bid to help other families in a similar situation – Sebastian's dad Tom contacted the Jeremy Kyle Show.

He said: "I called the show because I have seen the special shows with children so I explained about Sebastian's heart problem.

"I've kept in touch with them and the said they would call as soon as they were doing a programme.

"I was at work at the time on a Tuesday and I got a call to say 'can you come up for filming this Thursday'?"

His family was collected the next day by a taxi sent by the show to take them to Manchester – via a trip to Bristol to collect Charlotte who was there with the Brownies.

Filming took place at around 5.30pm the following day, when presenter Jeremy Kyle spoke with Mr Farmer, his wife Sharon, Sebastian and Charlotte.

"He was a lovely person, really nice," said Mr Farmer. "Overall I get the impression he prefers the shows with the children.

"The whole idea was to raise awareness so anybody going through a similar situation to what we have been through, like intensive care, would be able to understand and not find it so daunting.

"We are really looking forward to the show going out – we've been telling family and friends."

The children were each given a painting set with easels to take home from the studios and the family was also treated to tickets to watch England play Ireland ahead of the Rugby World Cup. They also met the team.

They are also set to be treated to a recording session at a studio in Hereford when they'll make their own family CD.

The show is set to air on ITV from 9.25am on October 23.