Prosthetic blades transform Maisie's life

One girl in the area said her life was transformed after she received her prosthetics.

Eight-year-old Maisie Catt, from Mirfield, who had both her legs amputated after contracting meningitis as a baby, and recently made the GB Taekwondo squad, said: “Getting my blades has changed my life.

“I can now walk without my walking sticks or crutches and I can now run fast – not as fast as my friends yet but I will do one day, I also join in more in my school PE lessons and I can ride my trike and do Taekwondo.”

Maisie’s mother, Sharon Hartley, said: “These blades have changed our family’s life.

“I now have a very happy confident little girl, strangers who we meet in the street now say ‘wow I like your blades instead of oh dear what have you done/what’s the matter with you’.

“Maisie will now happily tell people how fantastic her legs are.”

The next stage of a Government fund for sports prosthetics, launched in March, will mean children who have suffered limb loss or who were born with a limb deficiency will benefit from the latest prosthetics.

The fund, which has already supported 220 disabled children, will mean more will be able to use sporting prosthetics, including running blades, as well as supporting research and innovation to improve prosthetic technology for the future.

Caroline Dinenage, said: “Sport and activity are so important to any child’s health, wellbeing and confidence, and today’s announcement should help many more disabled children to fulfil their sporting ambitions.

“Hundreds have already benefitted from the fund, and this additional investment will now help us to open up even more possibilities for children with limb loss, and hopefully ignite in them a lifelong passion for sport.”