Lily Ketteringham, of Benton, North Tyneside, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of two and for a while, her future looked bleak.
Mr Ketteringham, who works in the engineering industry, said: 'We were told that Lily would miss many milestones, that she would have trouble with her speech, and that it was possible she would never walk.
'But I was determined for her to fulfill her potential.'
He researched the pioneering surgery which stimulates muscles in the spine and unscrambles mixed messages sent from the brain to the limbs. He then applied to the St Louis Children's Hospital in Missouri, which accepted that Lily would benefit from having Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) surgery.
He 'ran the Great North Run, did the coast to coast, friends and family got involved and eventually I made it and had the money to pay for the operation and the trip over to America.'
In the end, he smashed his target of £37,000 and raised £50,000, with the extra money helping to pay for travel costs and other expenses.
Lily and her father spent around a month in America between January and February last year.
The treatment appears to have been successful and Lily is now using special canes to walk, and is also able to stand up on her own for the first time.
Mr Ketteringham added: 'I am so happy Lily has undergone this procedure. It was the best possible thing we could have done.
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