A LITTLE girl desperately needs £50,000 for an operation so she can walk.
Five-year-old Ruby-Leigh Jackson is battling a disabling condition that will leave her permanently in a wheelchair if she does not get an operation before her adolescence.
Her mum Lorah Battams, 26, is asking people across the region to dig deep so Ruby-Leigh can finally walk independently.
Ruby-Leigh, who lives with her mum and sister on the Longhill estate, in east Hull, uses a walking frame, but longs to run and play on bouncy castles like her friends.
The life-changing operation she needs has only been introduced to England in the past few years and is not yet routinely funded by the NHS.
But Ruby-Leigh's bones and muscles will grow so much when she becomes a teenager, her hopes of the operation working so she can walk will be severely reduced.
Lorah said: "Having the operation would mean she could be more independent.
"At the moment, she is very determined, and won't let anything stop her.
"But I see her watching other children on the bouncy castle or running around and she wants to do it too.
"She is a happy girl and always smiling.
"She never asked 'why me?' but she keeps saying she wants to get rid of her walker."
Ruby-Leigh suffers from brain damage and spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, a condition that makes her very unbalanced and unsteady on her feet.
She can walk with the help of a small frame, but for longer distances she needs a wheelchair.
The Neasden Primary pupil is also learning to use tripod sticks – a type of walking stick with a claw-like three-pronged end – and a self-propelling wheelchair.
Lorah said: "It would mean everything to her if she could walk independently. I hate to use the word 'normal' – but it would mean she could be a normal five-year-old.
"She could play in the playground with her friends, bounce on a trampoline, ride a bike and do all the things her friends do.
"She could lead a normal life and do things for herself. She could get her own shoes and socks on and just be independent.
"It would make life so much easier for her. For me, it would feel like winning the lottery."
The surgery Ruby-Leigh needs is called selective dorsal rhizotomy. It involves opening the bones in the lower back to reveal the end of the spinal cord.
The abnormal nerve roots that cause spasticity are identified by electrical stimulation and then partially cut, so they do no spasm anymore.
Lorah has found a surgeon at Bristol's Frenchay Hospital who can perform the operation, but she needs £50,000 to pay for the treatment.
"The money would pay for all the pre-op assessment and the operation itself," said Lorah.
"She would have a lot of physiotherapy, because it will be like a baby learning to walk for the first time.
"It would be like going back to basics, so it would take time. But it would be worth it."
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