A desperate couple are in a race against time to raise £60,000 for life-changing surgery for their three-year-old daughter can walk by herself.
Lottie Simpson, three, was born with diplegic cerebral palsy and can’t walk unaided – her condition causes muscle contractions so she needs a metal frame to get around.
But a doctor in America has said they can help and has offered the parents a chance to change Lottie’s life – but it will cost £60,0 00 in total.
Now, Vicky Waite and Tom Simpson, 30, are trying to raise enough money to pay for young Lottie’s surgery in St Louis in January 2019.
Vicky, 37, from Denton, Manchester, said “For Lottie, cerebral palsy only affects her legs.
“Her brain and her hands are okay, and she is hitting all the development milestones for her age.
“She just can’t walk. She can crawl, but she needs a walking frame to help her day-to-day around the house, at nursery, and when we are out.
“This surgery will let her walk without it, and it will also help her to lead a pain free life.”
The operation – known as selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) – will see surgeons cut the affected nerves in Lottie’s spine.
It is not available on the NHS , but can be done privately in the UK.
Despite this, Vicky said that even some of the most experienced surgeons in the country have only carried out around 30 of the procedures.
The doctor they want to see in America has carried out more than 3,700.
“We just want the best for her,” she added.
Vicky described her daughter as a happy little girl who dotes on her younger sister Frankie, 21-months.
“Lottie is just brilliant,” she added.
“She goes to nursery four mornings a week and she just gets on with it, she’s part of the group and is never left out.
“She’s got lot of friends and they help her and look after her.
“At the moment Lottie doesn’t completely understand that she’s different. She’ll say to me, ‘I’ve been dancing with my friends today’, and she’s been dancing with them in her walker.
“She really is a fantastic little girl.”
Vicky says that Lottie’s condition is linked to a bleed on the brain she suffered when she was just a few days old.
The youngster was born at 30 weeks after Vicky went into premature labour on her mum and stepdad’s wedding day.
Lottie was in the neonatal intensive care unit for five weeks, and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when she was 18-months-old.
To donate visit https://www.justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/just4children/lottieslittlelegs
