NHS surgery U-turn hope for young Cumbrian girl

By Jenny Barwise

Last updated at 14:38, Thursday, 31 July 2014

Cerebral palsy sufferer Isabelle Pears is just one step away from having life-changing surgery to help her walk.

Isabelle Pears with mum Nicola

The five-year-olds story touched the hearts of many when her parents appealed through the News & Star earlier this month asking for help to fund a specialist operation for their daughter.

Little Isabelle has spastic diplegia, a tightness of her legs which makes it extremely difficult for her to walk. Her parents fear she could soon end up in a wheelchair.

Workington couple Nicola and Lee Pears started a 25,000 campaign called Isabelles Dream as they thought they had no option other than to pay for the operation themselves as it was not routinely funded through the NHS.

But in a welcome u-turn, the NHS has now announced that 120 youngsters will be able to take part in trials of the Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) and Isabelles family yesterday received the overwhelming news that the youngster met the criteria in principle for NHS funding.

However, they now have one last hurdle to clear before final confirmation can be given and that is for the Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to agree to pay for Isabelles physiotherapy following surgery.

Mum Nicola, 34, said she was relieved following the news, but was still on edge awaiting the final confirmation.

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NHS surgery U-turn hope for young Cumbrian girl