Days remain to find funds for life changing surgery for Norwich toddler Victoria Komada
The group at the summit of Snowdon at the end of the Three Peaks challenge. Picture: Grzegorz Oparowski - Credit: Archant
Just days remain to find £300,000 to save the legs of little Victoria Komada from amputation.
Victoria Komada and her mum Marzena Drusewicz - Credit: Archant
The youngster will celebrate her second birthday next week, rounding off a year which has seen friends and family scramble to find the funds for life-changing surgery.
Her parents have been unable to find treatment for her rare condition - bilateral tibial hemimelia - on the NHS and she has been left unable to walk as the bones in her legs have not formed correctly. Some are missing entirely.
But despite the best efforts of the people of Norwich and relatives in her parents' native Poland, they have not yet found £200,000.
In a last ditch bid to boost their funds, a group of friends from both countries took on the feat of climbing the three highest peaks in the UK in less than 24 hours.
Last weekend the team of eight conquered Scafell Pike, Ben Nevis and Snowdon while seeking to raise an extra £5,000 for surgery in America.
Specialists at the Paley Insitute in Florida have said they would be able to perform surgery, but it would come at a cost of £300,000, and for the best chance of success it should be done before her second birthday - on June 22.
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Taking on the Three Peaks challenge last weekend, the group left themselves with one hour 28 minutes for the final descent.
In a plea for help, Victoria's mother Marzena Drusewicz said: 'We know we don't have a lot of time, as soon it may be too late. We want her to be treated while she's still little to save her the trauma of surgeries and pain.
'I watch my daughter suffer as she's starting to notice that she's different from other kids. Her cousins are running around the house while I hold her in my arms, how she tries to climb the bed but can't. I look at Victoria's legs, so small they can fit in my hand. And I know I'll do all I can to save them. That's why I'm begging for help, because I know my child's future is in your hands. The amount of money we have to save is frightening but the fact we might not be quick enough and that somebody would amputate almost half of our child's body frightens us even more.
'We believe that she can win and overcome this awful condition she was born with. A story like Victoria's is one in a million, but pain and suffering doesn't have to be a part of it anymore.'
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