Awe-inspiring courage of girl, seven, who lost her limbs to meningitis as she walks for first time after SEVENTY SIX operations
A little girl who had to have both her legs and an arm amputated after contracting meningitis is able walk thanks to a new pair of legs.
Ellie-Mae Mellor, seven, has taken her first steps after losing three limbs to the deadly bug meningococcal septicaemia as a baby.
Doctors told devastated parents, Kelly and Billy, that Ellie-Mae would die after she was rushed into hospital days before her first birthday - and even advised them to organise the last rites for their daughter.
But as the infection took hold, battling Ellie-Mae, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs, stunned them all by getting stronger each day. She has since undergone 76 operations including three amputations.
And now, after years of hospital appointments and risky surgeries, the schoolgirl has learned to walk on brand new legs - and she has vowed to complete a sponsored walk to raise money for her local school church.
Kelly, 34, said: 'I am so proud of my daughter. Ellie-Mae always has a smile on her face.
'She was so young when she got meningitis that she hadn't learned to walk at all - so she doesn't know any different.
'Ellie-Mae never grumbles or complains, she doesn't see herself as any different to her friends, and does everything they do.
'When doctors told me they needed to amputate, I didn't think twice about giving them permission. I just wanted them to do whatever it took to save my little girl.
Ellie hasn't been able to use prosthetic legs up until now, as she has been growing so quickly, but she has learned to walk on a pair of 'rocking' legs, which she can walk about on really easily.'
-Adapted from Daily Mail
Post a Comment