Op cash appeal to help girl, 6

From the archive, first published Monday 20th Feb 2006.

Supporters are stepping up an appeal to raise funds to help little Gulshat Kadyrova walk properly -- after discovering a second operation will cost an extra £20,000.

Two weeks ago, the Oxford Mail reported that £7,000 was needed towards a life-changing £13,000 hip operation for the six-year-old, who has travelled from Turkmenistan with her mother, Bahar.

Now campaigners have been told by the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, in Headington, Oxford, that the operation will cost £15,000 -- and that further corrective surgery on Gulshat's spine stands to cost about £20,000.

Despite the additional costs, fundraisers remain hopeful that they will be able to raise the money.

More than £6,000 has already been pledged by people in Oxford, across the UK and America, and cheques have been rolling in since the Oxford Mail highlighted Gulshat's story.

The schoolgirl and her mother, 31, an accountant, have met one supporter, Claire Fullalove, at her East Oxford home.

Ms Fullalove, 64, who has had hip replacement surgery at the NOC, said: "It is important that people do rally behind this campaign. Gulshat is such a sweet little thing, and this will change her life dramatically."

Gulshat is due to undergo surgery at the NOC in two weeks, on March 6. She was born without any hip sockets and started walking only after doctors in Turkmenistan put her in a cast from the waist down for nine months.

Her mother was told that she would grow out of the condition, but has now been told by experts at the NOC that it was made worse by the plastercast.

Surgeons will create new hip sockets to correct the problem, enabling Gulshat to walk properly and run for the first time in her life.

When she arrived in Oxford last month, doctors discovered she also had scoliosis, a conditions which causes curvature of the spine. Her mother has been told that without corrective surgery, Gulshat's spine could bend into her pelvis, crushing her internal organs, within the next few years.

Miss Kadyrova has sold all her household belongings back home in Turkmenistan to pay for treatment for her daughter.

To donate, log on to www.gulshatfund.org.uk, or send a cheque payable to Rivers of Life Church (Oxford), with a note on the back saying "For Gulshat's Fund", to Roberts Pianos, St Clement's, Oxford, or to our reporter Samantha Simpson at the Oxford Mail, Osney Mead, Oxford, OX2 OEJ.

A 10-year-old girl will have her dream come true when she appears on stage at Oxford's New Theatre today.

Katie Pennick, of Little Milton, who has curvature of the spine, will join the Chisinau National Ballet for the opening scenes of The Nutcracker. The ballet appearance was arranged by the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which fulfils dreams for children with life-threatening illnesses or disabilities.

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