Elsie needs your help to walk

A FAMILY is hoping surgery in America could lead to their daughter walking for the first time.

Elsie Barker, from Hinckley, was born 18 months ago and was found to have a brain injury sustained in the womb.

The condition, known as spastic diplegia cerebral palsy, means Elsie’s legs are almost useless.

But her mum, Cerys Carter, has contacted a surgeon in St Louis, Missouri, who is willing to perform a procedure that is not available on the NHS but that he believes could help Elsie eventually walk.

Before that can happen, the family need to raised £60,000 for the surgery and the care that will follow.

Cerys said: “We have recently been informed of a procedure called selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) and this operation could do amazing things for Elsie.

“It could even enable her to walk. This is an operation that we so desperately want our little girl to be given the opportunity to have, however it comes at a price – and that price is in the region of £60,000, including all after-care.

“But the rewards she could get from this procedure are priceless.”

Cerys said SDR, which helps by loosening the limbs to allow more hope of physiotherapy working, was offered on the NHS for a trial period but has since been suspended.

A final report on whether the operation will be available again on the NHS will be delivered in August.

Even private surgeons would not perform the procedure on a youngster as badly affected as Elsie, but Cerys said there was no downside to trying the surgery.

She said: “Her legs can’t take any weight and she’s just learning to sit independently, but I think it would be amazing for her because it would reduce the tension in her legs.

“It will still take a lot of physiotherapy, but she could learn to walk. I know another little girl who also had her walking ability assessed as gait four, which his what Elsie is.

“She had SDR when she was three and can now walk. I think it’s unfair the NHS won’t consider Elsie for the operation when they’re always paying for hip operations for people in their 80s who have had a whole lifetime of walking.

“There are no negative outcomes from the operation.”

Cerys said she dreams of seeing her daughter walk one day.

She said: “Elsie lights up the lives of everyone she meets and is the most beautiful little girl.

“No matter what life throws at her, she smiles through it all.

“Elsie endures hours of physiotherapy and appointments every week to manage her complex health needs, but through all of it, she keeps that beautiful smile on her face.”

The family have organised a fund-raising night from 7pm on Saturday, June 16, at the Leicester Road football stadium in Hinckley. The free event will feature a gig by Sonic Boom.

To donate, type Elsie into the search box at: just4children.org/