Watch the moment cerebral palsy girl, 9, takes her first steps after donations from strangers for life-changing operation top £80,000

Rachel Blundy29 July 2015

The family of a nine-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who is taking her first steps after undergoing a life-changing operation have said they are "overwhelmed" by the support they received from strangers.

Scarlett Hewitt is on the road to recovery after receiving pioneering surgery for her condition in the US.

The Gresham primary school pupil, who lives with her mother Lisa, father John and sisters Sienna and Saffron in Croydon, can now walk independently for short periods of time.

She has also been back at her horse-riding, swimming and kung fu lessons since her operation in October.

Her family raised their target of £65,000 for the operation in just 16 weeks last year after a hugely successful social media campaign and a series of charity fundraisers.

Scarlett was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at just two weeks old, which doctors said was triggered at birth by a heart defect.

She underwent a selective dorsal rhizotomy at St. Louis Children's Hospital, Missouri, a complicated procedure which was temporarily not available on the NHS due to funding cuts.

She is now attending daily physiotherapy sessions to aid her recovery.

Her mother Lisa told the Standard she still gets "emotional" when she reads the messages of support which were posted on social media and on Scarlett's JustGiving page ahead of the operation.

She said: "It has been a journey. We've received donations from friends, family and strangers. It has been overwhelming.

Read More

"We will be forever grateful to people that helped us achieve Scarlett's wish to walk. The messages from people have been so touching. You look back through some of the comments people made and you get really emotional.

"When we exceeded out £65,000 target for the operation and reached £82,000, it was like 'Wow, Scarlett is going to get a great start with her rehabilitation'".

'Overwhelmed': Lisa and John Hewitt (Picture: London Live)

She continued: "Before the operation she was very much in a wheelchair for long distances which she does not really use now - so there has been a big improvement there already. She can walk now in a closed environment but it is on the outside when there is the hustle and bustle that she finds it harder - the slightest nudge from someone and she would be on the floor.

"We have got goals for her. We want her to run in sports day at school independently this year and we are going on holiday to Tenerife - so that's her incentive."

Follow Scarlett's progress on Twitter here.

Video reporting for London Live by Reya El-Salahi

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT