BRAVE teenager Alan Doherty has been presented with a special award acknowledging his courage by Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern.Ahern presented the 18-year-old with a Rehab Donegal Person of the Year accolade which was awarded while Doherty was in hospital in New York recovering from one of several operations to build him a new chin.Doherty returned on Friday of last week from the U.S. to his hometown, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, just in time for a quick nap before joining Ahern at a special VIP function in his honor.Alan and parents Danny and Bernie arrived at the bash in a chauffeur-driven limousine and were joined for 15 minutes in a private room by the taoiseach.Then a bag-piper played Ahern and Doherty side by side into dinner where they were loudly applauded by 550 supporters of a campaign to raise funds for his operations.It was Ahern's last public appearance n Ireland before flying to the U.S. to address the joint Houses of Congress.It was touch-and-go whether surgeons would allow Doherty home for the event after he recently underwent an unscheduled extra operation for an unexpected infection.It threatened to prevent him returning to Ireland in time for the function as surgeons said they wanted him close by for constant monitoring of his condition.But on Wednesday last week they gave him the go-ahead, and he arrived home just in time for a few hours sleep before the awards event organized by his local newspaper, the Donegal Democrat.Doherty, who has already had five operations at the world-famous Mount Sinai Medical Center, has to return to New York in June for two more. They will involve carving the chin into shape so that he will finally have his life's dream -- a perfect chin.He was born with a rare condition called otofacial syndrome. He had no chin and had to breathe through a tube in his throat. His parents were told at birth that he was unlikely to survive, but he did against massive odds.He is one of just two people with the condition and he was the first person in the world to undergo a series of operations for a new chin.The chin has already cost $653,000 and there's further expense ahead with two more operations in the pipeline to follow the five Alan has already undergone.The most recent was an unscheduled 3 1/2 hour procedure four weeks ago to deal with an unexpected infection.