Blade runner girl, 7, who’s a gym star
DAISY-MAY Demetre, aged just seven, loves working out in the gym where she impresses everyone with her skills.
The double amputee can turn cartwheels and outrun able-bodied children on her prosthetic blades.
Daisy-May was born with a condition that meant her lower legs and feet were deformed.
Her parents Alex and Claire, both 35, were given the difficult choice between watching Daisy-May grow up with deformed feet she couldn’t use or a double amputation.
Hoping prosthetics would give her a better quality of life, they decided to have her left leg removed below the knee and the right leg removed above the knee when she was 18 months old.
They never dreamed at the time that their daughter would become a fearless gymnast – as well as a model for clothing company Boden.
Daisy-May has even modelled on the catwalk at London Fashion Week and turns heads when she works out at the gym with her father.
“Monkey bars and cartwheels are my favourites,” she said. “I can also do the Olympic rings and I can lift the dumbbells, though they are heavy.
Determined
“I don’t see any other girls in the gym with their dads but they should try it. My blades help me to run. I can beat my brother and sister when I race them.”
A scan during Claire’s pregnancy revealed that her baby had only two toes on one foot, while the other was just a ball. Alex said: “We had the choice for her to live like that, with no quality of life, or to go for the operation.
“We didn’t know at the time that DaisyMay would be as good at gymnastics as she is now. She faces each day with a big smile on her face. She motivates me.”
Daisy-May got her big break in fashion after Alex watched a TV programme about a modelling agency which casts children with disabilities in advertising campaigns. He got in touch and her career has since taken off.
Alex is determined to give her the same opportunities as her able-bodied siblings, Charlie, 12, and Ella, 10.
“Daisy-May is a double amputee but she can do more than many able-bodied children can do,” he said.
“If you give her a challenge, she will do it, whether it’s monkey bars or cartwheels. She was told she would never ride a bike but she came racing down the road on one the other day.”
The family live in Northfield, Birmingham, and Daisy-May trains at a gym where her father has been working out for five years. “People tell me she is inspiring to watch,” he said.