‘She told us she liked her toes, but has just got on with life’
Brave eight-year-old amputee refuses to let disability hold her back
When she was aged just seven, Ivy Glover’s parents were faced with a heartbreaking decision amputate part of her leg or let her grow up with a debilitating deformity.
The youngster, from Darwin Avenue in Maidstone, was born with a rare condition called Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency, meaning that her right leg was significantly shorter than the other.
It means the now eight-yearold has had to undergo extensive surgery throughout her childhood.
The condition was detected when Ivy’s mum, Charlotte, went for her 20-week scan.
The 36-year-old legal secretary said: “I was definitely shocked when I found out, because you go to these things completely optimistic.
“Immediately my first fear was that she was going to get picked on at school, and I was worried how other people would perceive her.”
After going thorough numerous surgeries throughout her childhood, in August, Ivy and her parents took the brave decision in to amputate her foot. Charlotte said: “It’s very tough, because you don’t think as a parent you will ever actually have to choose to do that.” Ivy’s Dad, Nick, a 39-year-old civil engineer, adds: “We were very concerned about mentioning the surgery to Ivy, due to how she would react.
“But she’s such a trooper I think she made one minor comment about how she likes her toes, but then she just got on with it.”
With her new prosthetic leg, Ivy is now able to play the many sports that she enjoys - including going to the climbing wall with her friends.
Both parents say she has truly embraced her uniqueness. “She now realises there’s a lot more kids out there in a similar situation to her. I think that has definitely helped develop
her confidence. Ivy is a very strong-minded, confident and bubbly little girl.”
The family has been able to raise more than £2,000 on their GoFundMe page for LimbPower, a charity which supports adults and children with limb loss with their rehabilitation and whose
sporting events were essential for Ivy.
Dad Nick, 39, said: “I don’t know what she would have been like without going to these events and seeing other children with similar impairments.
“It helps show that conditions shouldn’t hold you back.”