CARYS IS OUR OWN BRAVE WEE FIGHTER
Family’s pride at youngster’s courageous hobbies
A FIVE-YEAR-OLD amputee whose parents feared she would not survive as a baby has stunned doctors by taking up martial arts.
Carys Vaughan battled a string of problems and a rare deformity which left her without a foot.
But the youngster, from the Black Isle, has been given an award for her inspiring approach to life – which includes hobbies such as kenpo, street dancing and scooting around her skate park at top speed.
Double hand transplant mum Corinne Hutton, who founded the charity that honoured Carys, said the youngster had helped her deal with her own disability.
Carys, from Fortrose, spent a lot of the first years of her life in hospital after being born 10 weeks premature. She had holes in her heart and suffered amniotic band syndrome in the womb, which can cause strands of the amniotic sac to separate and entangle limbs.
Her right foot was hanging on by a thread and had to be removed soon after birth.
But she has stunned proud parents Ruth and Gareth, 39, and big brother Ben, seven, with her abilities as she’s grown older.
Ruth said: “She does kenpo, a martial art, and dancing. At the beach she’s clambering over rocks and she rides a scooter scarily fast, going up and down the ramps at the skate park. “Her leader at kenpo says there’s really nothing she can’t do. “She’s on an orange belt and very proud of it.” Carys was overjoyed to be picked from dozens of incredible nominees to be crowned this year’s CHAMPS award winner by the Finding Your Feet charity, which has supported the family since she was born. Corinne, from Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, said: “Carys was a standout because she’s been through so much. “She’s a shining example to all of us and she’s changed the way I look at things and how I deal with adversity.”