A SCOTS girl has taken her first steps since undergoing a rare operation to reverse the effects of cerebral palsy.
Brave Brooke Ramsay “amazed and delighted” her parents by walking without splints just six days after the tricky operation on her spine.
The eight –year-old had bars to grip and a physiotherapist standing by but there was no disguising the joy on her face as she made the massive breakthrough.
Brooke, from Carnoustie, Angus, has set herself the target of being able to dance like her twin sister, Amy.
The pictures of her first steps on Monday were posted on Facebook by her mum and dad, Laura, 31, and Stewart, 38.
Brooke was born three months prematurely, suffered brain bleeds, and weighed just 2lbs.
She was unable to stand unaided as a result of cerebral palsy.
But after becoming the first Scot to have a £24,000 dorsal rhizotomy procedure, paid for the NHS and carried out at Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, she is able to take her first faltering steps.
Laura said: “She is doing really well and walking using parallel bars.
“She has been walking up and down for the first time since the operation. She has got her feet flat too which she couldn’t do before.
“She has also been standing and throwing balls. It has changed her life already.”
The operation removes damaged nerves from the spine and was previously only available at a children’s hospital in St Louis, Missouri.
Laura added: “She is having a lot of different sensations which she has never felt before. The difference in a couple of days is just unbelievable. We have no regrets whatsoever. We have read about this for so long and it’s a dream come true for us.
“There is a lot of work still to be done but we’re all on a high and Brooke is eager and working so hard with the physiotherapists.”
Family and friends were quick to congratulate Brooke on her facebook page “Brooke’s dream” after her parents posted a video of her walking.
Sabrina Jameson said, “You must be so proud. Such an inspiration to people that anything is possible if you really want it.”
Jenni Carrie also posted, “Brought tears to my eyes, what a beautiful brave girl.”
This continues the selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) operation’s 100% success rate and Brooke was the 23rd patient to receive it in the Bristol hospital.
Having worn splints since the age of two, she faced using them for the rest of her life without the operation, which destroys defective nerves in the spine.
Previously, families of children with cerebral palsy faced having to raise around £90,000 to have the operation at a hospital in Missouri.
Brooke has always dreamt of going to dance classes with her twin Amy and now following the operation, this could be possible.
