Great strides to better life

8:29am Monday 27th November 2006

Comments (0)   Have your say »

In the spring, Gulshat Kadyrova was taking her first steps after a life-changing hip operation.

Now the seven-year-old, from Turkmenistan, is taking dance classes.

Oxford Mail readers helped raise almost half of the £15,000 needed for Gulshat, born without any hip sockets, to undergo surgery at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre.

In March, surgeons created sockets to stop her leg bones "slipping" out of place when she walked, giving the little girl the chance to run for the first time.

Now living in Cowley, she is attending St Christopher's School and going to dance lessons at the Isis Dance Academy in Barton.

Jennie de Vries, 29, a Russian speaker who is hosting Gulshat and her mother Bahar during their stay in England, said: "It's made a huge difference to her life.

"She's got a lot more strength and can walk properly and play outside with the other kids.

"She jumped for the first time a month ago and it was such an exciting moment.

"A huge thank you to all the people who have supported us and donated. If it wasn't for the Oxford Mail readers, I don't think we'd be where we are now."

Gulshat arrived in Oxford at the end of January with Bahar, 32, an accountant earning the equivalent of about £40 a month, who sold all her household belongings back home to pay for her daughter's treatment.

The pair stayed in England following the operation as it was discovered Gulshat was suffering from scoliosis, a condition which causes the spine to bend towards the pelvis.

She has recently been fitted with a brace, but this is only a stopgap before she needs surgery.

Mrs De Vries said: "It's quite a severe curve - about 45 degrees. If she had carried on too much longer without the brace her ribcage would be touching her hips.

"But the second operation is going to be even more expensive than the first, between £30,000 and £35,000."

She said that in an ideal world, a child would be 11 or 12 before having the operation, in which parts of the spine are fused together, but it was more likely Gulshat would need surgery in the next year.

She added: "There's no concrete timescale yet - we don't know at the moment because she's only just got the brace."

Two events are planned to raise funds for Gulshat's second operation. A craft fair takes place from noon to 4pm in Marston United Reformed Church in Marston Road on Saturday.

In the evening, a concert will be given at 7.30pm in Botley Baptist Church in Westminster Way. The Christian Music Fellowship Choir will perform, with guest artists.

For more information, or to donate, log on to www.gulshatfund.org.uk