Schoolgirl feels like she has 'new body' after life-changing operation

Brooke Ramsay: Schoolgirl has returned home after operation.

A schoolgirl who was the first Scots child to receive life-changing surgery to reverse the effects of cerebral palsy has returned home and says she feels like she has a "whole new body".

Brooke Ramsay, from Carnoustie in Angus, developed the condition which left her unable to walk unaided after being born three months prematurely.

In July she under went selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) surgery to give her the chance of being able to walk without help.

Now the eight-year-old has amazed her family by walking unaided and is continuing to progress back at the family home.

Her mother Laura, 31, said Brooke has experienced a range of new sensations like wiggling her toes and tingling in her legs.

She is now continuing on an intensive physiotherapy programme.

Mrs Ramsay said: "She is doing amazingly. We haven't looked back since she had the operation. We noticed a difference straight away. She has been wiggling her toes which she wasn't able to do before and getting new sensations in her legs. There still a lot of work to be done but we are amazed by her determination. She said to me she feels like she has a whole new body."

Brooke had the operation at Bristol’s Frenchay Hospital. She was the hospital's 23rd SDR patient since the operation was first performed there just over a year ago.

She was also the first Scots child to be operated on and the first Scots child to receive funding from the NHS.

The NHS approved her bid for funding following a campaign which launched last summer.

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