‘I’m going to do it, Mummy!’ Our brave girl’s remarkable walk
Tanya Cross-walton, 42, from as Cheltenham, watched in amazement her daughter’s one wish came true...
Sitting in my living room, my heart felt full as I watched my little girl Amelia-rose staring up at the telly. Suddenly she turned to me with a huge smile.
‘Mummy, I want to be able to walk Chloe into school on her first day,’ Amelia-rose said.
I was nearly overwhelmed by her words as I tried to keep from bursting into tears.
Amelia-rose loves her little sister Chloe, who is a year younger than her.
‘That’s lovely, sweetheart,’ I beamed. ‘And I know you will.’
She’s always been such an incredibly determined little girl.
When my husband, Ben, 38, and I had got married back in 2012, we immediately knew we wanted to have children together.
In June 2014 we welcomed our beautiful little Amelia-rose into the world through a planned caesarean, she was everything we’d dreamed of and more.
The standard post c-section tests were all fine.
Then, the next few months absolutely flew by.
Eagerly turning up to the local mum and baby group, I made some wonderful friends there.
But soon, I began to watch the other babies, and compare them to Ameliarose which made me start to become concerned.
‘She doesn’t seem as advanced as the others,’ I said to Ben. ‘They’re all sitting upright by themselves and Amelia-rose isn’t yet.’
‘I’m sure it’s nothing,’ he reassured me. ‘You’re probably just overthinking it.
‘We’ve never done anything like this before, remember.’
I nodded my head and tried to ignore it.
But I soon began to worry again and took a visit to my GP.
The GP put my mind at ease and told me everything was fine.
But when Amelia-rose started to crawl I noticed she really struggled to lift her legs.
Watching as she pulled herself up against the sofa, her legs went inwards.
I knew the GP said she was fine, but Ben and I agreed there was something not right.
I got in contact with a private GP and paid for her to be looked at.
When the tests came back it showed there was something wrong with her legs.
She needed more tests.
We were devastated to find out that there was actually something wrong and was terrified of what it could mean for her future.
But there was a sense of relief that she was being seen to and diagnosed, rather than being left to suffer.
Researching online, I came across a surgery called selective dorsal rhizotomy, which can improve muscle stiffness.
When we discovered that it was performed in England, at the Bristol
Royal Hospital for Children, as well as the
USA we were hopeful.
Devastatingly, the MRI scan showed no signs of any condition.
We were told that she may have cerebral palsy and no surgery would be able to help her.
She still made the most of her time with her friends and played like any three-year-old would.
But she was restricted as she had to use a walker and a wheelchair.
She also struggled to sleep at night because of her frequent, painful, spasms in her legs.
‘This can’t be it,’ I cried to Ben. ‘We need to fix her.’
We were determined to get her the help she needed.
Contacting a surgeon in America, Dr Park, I asked him about Amelia-rose’s legs.
In September 2017 Ben flew out to Missouri, USA, to go to the St Louis Children’s Hospital to see the doctor in person.
I stayed home with Chloe and waited for the call from Ben about Dr Park’s evaluation.
‘He said he’ll do the surgery,’ Ben said down the phone. ‘We must update him with blood results once they’re back, and we need to raise a total of £100,000 for the operation.’
‘We’ll get the money,’ I said, knowing we’d find a way to get the money for the operation.
The blood test results confirmed that she had hereditary spastic paraplegia type 4, which would gradually worsen over time if it wasn’t treated.
On that day, we began planning our fundraising.
Over two years I trained for, and ran, a half marathon to raise money.
Ben tackled three separate 100km walks to get us closer to our target.
The local community and pub organised a load of raffles, cake sales and set up challenges to get the
I soon began to worry again
cash together for Amelia-rose.
The support we received was utterly overwhelming.
Everyone went above and beyond to help our fight against Amelia-rose’s condition.
Then, in 2019, the day came for us to fly over to America for the life changing surgery for our little girl.
During the four hours of surgery, I was pacing around, waiting for the time to pass.
When she was out, I gave her a huge kiss and waited for her to wake up after dipping in and out of sleep for the next two days.
After she finally came around, we were amazed by what she said.
‘Look Mummy, I can wiggle my toes!’ she said, looking amazed.
It was a dream come true for our entire family.
The surgery has actually worked, I thought, feeling blown away.
After three weeks of intense physiotherapy and a second operation to strengthen her calves we flew back home.
She had to do daily physio, even over Zoom calls once Covid-19 hit.
Every day we watched as she grew stronger and stronger.
When she started walking with her tripod sticks, or while holding mine and Ben’s hand, it was the most incredible moment.
But, her goal from the very beginning, since her surgery, was to be able to walk Chloe to school for the first time the following September, in 2020.
Amelia-rose was due to move up to Year 2 in school, and Chloe was going to start Reception.
‘I’m going to do it Mummy,’ she repeatedly told me. ‘I remember what it was like going into school by myself.’
Ringing the school a couple of days before the big day, I wanted to let them know of our big plan.
When the day finally arrived, the drive to get to their school was incredibly exciting. I could tell
Amelia-rose was slightly nervous too though.
‘What if I fall, Mummy?’ she asked me.
‘Then I’ll catch you,’ I told her with a confident smile. ‘But that won’t happen so don’t worry.’
Stepping out of the car, Ameliarose grabbed hold of mine and her sisters’ hand and went ahead and bravely took her first step towards the school gates.
The teachers cheered her on. The look on her face was like nothing I’d ever seen before.
She was glowing with happiness and pride.
Her friends soon ran over to give her a huge congratulations.
It was an intensely emotional, but beautiful moment.
Amelia-rose inspires us every single day, with her daily physio and determination.
At the moment she’s still quite reliant on her tripod sticks walking, but she can stand for more than two and a half minutes all by herself!
We’re in touching distance of her being able to take a couple of steps entirely unaided.
Unfortunately, I have recently also been diagnosed with hereditary spastic paraplegia type 4, which means the function of my legs will gradually decline over time. It was an incredible shock. But luckily, I’ve got Ameliarose to show me the ropes with the physio that I need to do.
We’ll be in it together, supporting each other every step of the way.