Four-year-old British girl with cerebral palsy walks to school after specialist treatment in US

Emmy King started school this week following operation and intensive physiotherapy

Emmy King started school this week (King family / SWNS)

A four-year-old British girl with cerebral palsy has been able walk independently for the first time following specialist treatment in the US.

Carly and Dave King, from Hampshire, were able to watch their four-year-old daughter Emmy walk through the school gates this week.

They feared she would be in a wheelchair for life after she was diagnosed with spastic diplegia shortly before her second birthday, a condition which caused constantly stiff muscles.

But the schoolgirl was able to undergo Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) surgery costing £85,000 at a private facility in the US.

The procedure was followed by intensive physiotherapy to help her stand independently then learn how to walk.

Family, friends and strangers donated thousands of pounds to pay for the treatment.

Carly King, from Lychpit in Hampshire, described her pride at watching her “incredible” daughter walk into Old Basing Infant School with the rest of her classmates.

“When Emmy was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a baby, before I’d even left the consultant’s office, my mind jumped straight forward to this moment.

“Will she ever walk? Will she be able to go to a mainstream school?’

“Since the day she was diagnosed our entire family has worked tirelessly to make this a reality. One year of epic fundraising and two years of daily, relentless physiotherapy, and here we are. Our dream has come true.”

The 32-year-old added: “Emmy is incredible. Whatever we have done to help her along the way, she has done all the hard work.

“Every day of her life. A more determined little girl you will not find.”

A week in at her new school, Emmy is said to be enjoying life as a student and is already popular in the classroom.

Her mother said she would be forever grateful to everyone who donated. “Those donations have changed her life and without them she wouldn’t have walked into school.

“She would have had to use her frame and it would be a completely different story.

“To have the independence to walk into school and not feel any different, that was always our dream and it really has come true, she can start school like all the other children.”