Disabled five year old from Woolwich denied operation to help stop hip pain

BY JAMES TWOMEY
james@slpmedia.co.uk

A five-year-old girl needs £50,000 for a life-changing surgery after being denied on operation by the NHS because she does not meet the right criteria.

Rosie Morris, from Woolwich, has difficulty walking, balancing or completing many day-to-day tasks.

She has a form of cerebral palsy called spastic diplegia, which causes a tightening in her lower body muscles.

Her mother, Daria Morris, said Rosie’s consultant told her that she didn’t meet the criteria for the necessary surgery because it was for those who can walk better than her and that the NHS could not justify the expense as they would not see any positive results quickly enough.

Daria, who cares for Rosie full-time on her own, does not understand why Rosie does not meet the surgery criteria – because she is in pain all the time.

Daria said: “This is the one thing that could change her life for the better and forever.

“She lives with this pain every day. The condition pushes her hips out of place so they could break at any time and she always in agony.

She tells me her hips ‘are burning’.

“She eats so much because she uses so much energy trying to walk around and she lives with painful cramp every day.”

The procedure which could help Rosie, called selective dorsal rhizotomy, costs up to £30,000 and the following rehabilitation costs about £20,000.

The procedure is done at Great Ormond Street Hospital – but if patients do not meet the criteria, they would have to go private.

The spinal surgery procedure would adjust Rosie’s nerves and prevent her muscles from tightening, bringing her hip bones back into place.

According to her mother, Rosie is unable to get hip surgery either as the doctors told her she would not recover.

Daria has said she thinks the spinal surgery is the only way Rosie can get better.

Daria said: “At the moment she walks like a ballerina on her tiptoes because her legs muscles are so tight.”

Rosie can only have NHS physiotherapy three times a year, so Daria is paying for additional therapy three hours a day, costing £800 for a week – when the family has the money.

Daria has set up a justgiving account as well as Facebook and Instagram accounts to help raise money for Rosie.

There is a 5km charity obstacle run taking place in Kempton Park racecourse in May where they hope to raise more money for Rosie.

Daria’s sister managed to bring in £700 from a marathon in Amsterdam last year.