IT’S FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

ALITTLE girl given a 10% chance of survival after a rare illness has defied the odds to start her first day of school.

When four-year-old Felicity Watkins was stuck down by a life-threatening condition, her parents were told she may only ever communicate by blinking her eyes.

Now, after making an astounding recovery from being almost completely paralysed, the determined schoolgirl has reached her latest big milestone.

Armed with a new uniform and pencil case, emotions were running high this week as Felicity, known better as Fliss, started Jubilee Park Primary School in Rogerstone, Newport, for the first time.

The day came two years after the youngster was struck down by autoimmune disorder Guillain-Barre syndrome in December 2015.

Leaving the toddler unable to breathe independently or even smile, the illness is a condition of the nerv- ous system, in which the body’s immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system – but its cause is unknown.

At the time it meant the three-yearold needed round-the-clock care and was only able to move her tiny feet.

Since then she has started to walk with the help of a frame and underwent open-heart surgery in April last year.

The determined toddler has astounded her family and health care professionals by refusing to let her illness get in the way.

Proud mum Frances Watkins said: “We’ve been fighting for it [getting her into school] for about a year because she’s so clever but as she is disabled there are only so many schools that can take her on.

“She’s doing amazingly, she’s a dif-