Brave schoolgirl's 65,000 dream to walk unaided for the first time through life-changing operation

Eight-year-old Scarlett Hewitt has battled health problems since birth but hopes to fly to America for pioneering treatment.

A little girl's dream of playing with her friends in the school playground could become reality after being selected for life-changing surgery.

Scarlett Hewitt, eight, was born with cerebral palsy triggered by a heart defect and is unable to walk unaided.

But an operation to help reduce the spasticity in her legs is not available on the NHS and Scarlett needs 65,000 to undergo the procedure in the US.

Her family have now launched a fundraising campaign to raise money for the complex selective dorsal rhizotomy operation and physiotherapy at St Louis Children's Hospital in Missouri.

Scarlett, from Croydon, south London, said meeting the target would bring her one step closer to her dream of being able to run around with her friends and younger sisters Sienna, seven, and Saffron, three.

She said: "I dream that one day I will not have to use my walking frame or wheelchair anymore and that I will be able to play in the playground with my school friends and run around just like them.

"Sometimes it makes me so sad to sit watching them. It is very hard work when you have this condition and I get very worn out trying to keep up with them.

"If we can raise this money, my mummy and daddy can take me to America and it will change my life forever."

Fighter: Scarlett needed open-heart surgery at just two-weeks-old

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Brave schoolgirl's 65,000 dream to walk unaided for the first time through life-changing operation