Story
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;amp;quot; font-size: 12pt;">Hello, my name is Sophie Hannah Hutson and I live in Surrey with my Mummy and Daddy.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;amp;quot; font-size: 12pt;">After an extremely difficult pregnancy, I was born two months early in March 2008 weighing 4lb 2ozs. I was whisked away into Special Care where I spent the next 3 days in the High Dependency Unit before being transferred into the other sections of the Special Baby Care Unit for the next 4 weeks.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;amp;quot; font-size: 12pt;">I was unable to see for the first 9 months of my life as the damage to my brain that occurred affected my vision. This has greatly improved now, however when I was 2 years old my parents were told that I have a condition called Cerebral Palsy.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;amp;quot; font-size: 12pt;">Cerebral Palsy affects everyone differently and no two people are the same. I am unable to stand or walk unaided and I have difficulty with my balance and sitting. This makes everyday tasks that others take for granted extremely hard for me to do. I have a walker to help me get around and also have to wear splints on both of my legs to give them support. Every day I have to do physiotherapy to try and keep me flexible in my lower limbs. This is a lot for a 3 year old to deal with, as I just want to play with my friends.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;amp;quot; font-size: 12pt;">Mummy gets upset when I ask her ‘When will I be able to walk like the rest of my friends?’ because she can’t give me the answer. However, I have been accepted for a life changing operation called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(SDR) which will be carried out in St.Louis, America. Following the operation it will mean that I have to do even more physiotherapy than I already do for the next few years, but the difference is that the surgeon has predicted that I will eventually walk unaided.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;amp;quot; font-size: 12pt;">The reason for my website is that I need to raise funds of £60,000 to make the operation a reality. As well as the main SDR operation, I also require additional orthopaedic surgery to lengthen my hamstrings and heel cords.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;amp;quot; font-size: 12pt;">Thank you so much for taking the time to look at my just giving page. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;amp;quot; font-size: 12pt;">Anything that you can do, will help me take ‘Small Steps’ towards my dream of being able to walk.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: &amp;amp;quot; font-size: 12pt;">Sophie X</span></p>
<p> Website: <a href="http://www.smallstepsforsophie.org.uk">www.smallstepsforsophie.org.uk</a></p>