Cerebral Palsy Claims
Side-by-side these adorable twins look identical.
One of them, however, is wearing leg splints and can barely walk without a frame.
That's because Isabella Platt suffers from a debilitating form of cerebral palsy.
All she wants is 'new' pair of legs so she can do what she loves most - dance with her sister Gabriella.
But Isabella is having to fight for them - because she can't get the operation she needs on the NHS.
The fun-loving four-year-old was born with the condition and needs a frame to stand upright.
Her parents have been warned she may never walk unaided - yet the help she needs is unavailable.
Gabriella does her best to make life easier for her twin in the meantime.
She wears the clumpiest, biggest black shoes her parents can find so Isabella doesn't feel left out with her corrective boots.
And she holds her hands to keep Isabella upright when she struggles to keep her balance.
The family were offered a spinal procedure last May by a surgeon in Bristol.
However, Isabella's family say she can't get it done on the NHS because of the strict selection criteria and large amount of aftercare required.
Now the family are fighting to raise £50,000 to go to America where a US surgeon's ground-breaking spinal surgery could promise to see Isabella fulfil her dreams.
Isabella had told her parents: 'I wish I could take my legs off I hate them. They're awful.'
Mother Stacey Platt, an air hostess from Preston, Lancashire, said: 'What I want for Izzy is for her to be happy and do what she wants. She wants to dance and run and ride her bike.
'I want to see her without the leg splints, I want her to be able to walk into a shoe store and get anything she wants.
'At an age where little girls want pink, sparkly shoes, she wears these ugly black ones. We get Gabby the clumpiest, blackest shoes we can find so that they're more similar.
'I think she understands why and she never ever complains. I've told them after the operation they can both get Lilly Kelly shoes.
"When the advert for them comes on, they turn to me and say, "Mummy when Izzy gets her legs fixed we'll get these ones".'
'Gabby and Izzy are really close. I'm so glad she's got a twin sister to look after her.
'It gives her that extra support. If Gabby thinks anyone's being rough with her, she'll step in.
'Gabby's a big dancer and Izzy also loves to dance. They watch Grease most nights. They love Michael Jackson. She can dance about ten steps then she falls.
'She doesn't have much balance and her toes are pointed so her leg muscles get sore as well. Gabby will take her hands so she can keep dancing.'
Stacey and husband, hairdresser Jason Platt, 47, discovered their daughter had spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy, at 18 months after seeing numerous specialists.
'Gabby walked when she was one, but Izzy didn't sit up, roll over or move much. When we set her up on her legs against the bed her right ankle didn't look right.
'The GP said, "don't compare them just because they're twins". We went to see another consultant and they thought it was club foot.
'We went to see another one and he said it was flat feet.
'It was a junior doctor who said, when she was 18 months, "Has anyone mentioned cerebral palsy?" He said that after five minutes, after walking with her.'
How Izzy got the condition is a mystery - carried almost to full term at 38 and a half weeks, she weighed 6lb 4oz when she was born first, before Gabby born weighing 4lb 4oz. Both babies were healthy and crying.
'All the consultants and specialists don't know why she got the brain damage.' Stacey and Jason, who also have an eight-year-old son Charlie, filmed her first steps aged two and a half.
The family found out about the procedure in the US, called selective dorsal rhizotomy, when a family from Hyde went on the local news to show how well it had worked on their daughter.
It involves spinal surgery and lengthening of the leg muscles.
Stacey said: 'Since then, I've seen about 180 videos after joining a Facebook group with the families of children from all over the world who have had this surgery.
'He has 100 per cent success rate. There's nothing negative to say about it at all. The difference is amazing. He gets kids out of wheelchairs.'
She added: 'Overall it improves the qualities of life of the children who get it. The NHS could potentially offer it, but it would be after she's seven, but I'm worried that it will start to effect her more as she gets older.
'She's really happy, confident and smiley. But I'm worried that's going to start changing. On our last holiday when there were all the activities where people were standing on their feet she went and hid.
'It's starting to bother her a bit. She's a bit embarrassed about it now. If I'll be speaking to someone and she's with me, she'll hide her legs behind me. She's starting to become more shy about it now. I'm worried school might make it worse for her.'
The family have tentatively booked the trip out to the Center for Cerebral Palsy Spasticity in St Louis, Missouri for January 2012 for the surgery, which will include five weeks of rehabilitation.
So far they have since raised £10,000 of the £50,000 they need since May.
source: dailymail.co.uk
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