Schoolgirl, 8, left paralysed after suffering ultra-rare injury while learning to surf
An eight-year-old girl was left paralysed for suffering an extremely rare spinal injury while learning to surf.
But brave Nakita Wright has vowed to walk again one day and her family are trying to raise £15,000 for treatment to help her.
Nakita was enjoying her first ever surfing lesson from dad Russell, 34, during a holiday to the Algarve last October when she suffered an ultra-rare injury.
She was practising lying flat on a board on land, jumping up to perfect the move before braving the waves, but toppled to the ground in agony.
Mum Natasha, 38, saw her pull herself up and stagger a few steps before dropping to her knees, saying: “Mummy, my legs are sleeping.”
Paralysed - Nakita is now wheelchair-bound (Pictures: SWNS)
Natasha, from Trowbridge, Wiltshire, said: “None of us knew about the severity of what had happened - we thought it was a trapped nerve or something.”
They carried Nakita back to their hotel but when she still couldn’t feel her feet, rushed her to hospital.
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Medics were left stumped and it was only months later back in the UK that doctors diagnosed her as the youngest of just 64 people in the world to have ‘surfer’s myelopathy’.
Caused by repetitive hyperextension of the back which pinches blood vessels along the spinal cord, the condition leaves sufferers with no feeling in their lower limbs.
Hopeful - Nakita has vowed to walk again despite her injury
Natasha, who is now separated from Nakita’s father, said: “[The doctor’s] words were, ‘We have spent a lot of time on the internet over the last few days. We have agreed that this is what we think it is’.
"I said, 'What does that mean? Is she going to walk again?’ and she said, 'We are ever so sorry but it is unlikely she is ever going to walk again.’
"I was an absolute mess. I can remember my heart just breaking.”
Nearly a year after her accident, Nakita is still unable to walk and paralysed from the waist down.
But despite her relying on a wheelchair, the family live in hope.
“She says, "I will walk again’ and we are hopeful”, Natasha said. “Never is a long time.
"Every day I could break down, but I don’t. It just makes me think, don’t take life for granted because this could happen to anyone at any time.”
The family are trying to raise £15,000 for electrical stimulation equipment to improve Nakita’s muscle function. Visit gogetfunding.com/nakitas-pedalling-pink
