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A celebrity potter has got behind a huge fundraising drive to get a bionic prosthesis for a seven-year-old girl who has had her leg amputated.
Bunty Stalham suffers from incurable condition neurofibromatosis, which her dad Dean, from Ramsgate, says caused tumours to form on her nerve tissue and eat away at the bone, in her case her fibia.
Despite years of numerous operations at Great Ormond Street Hospital to try to save her shin bone, medics were left with no option but to remove her lower left leg on May 15.
Mr Stalham, a community artist who runs Stretch Outsider Gallery in Margate, is raising £20,000 to get her an ‘activity’ prosthesis from the US, which has attachments allowing her to do different activities.
His appeal has so far raised £11,460, including a generous £7,000 donation from children’s charity Friends of Shelby Newstead, but he needs to reach his target in three months, when Bunty will have a first fitting for a prosthetic limb.
“I want her to be able to do all the things that any normal little girl can do, including running, jumping and skipping,” he said.
“Bunty is an exceptional child. I want to get her an exceptional new leg.
“I’ve never known anyone braver or more inspirational. She’s truly beautiful and strong inside and out.”
Keith Brymer Jones, who was a judge on BBC2’s The Great Pottery Throw Down, has now stepped in to help and will host an online art auction on July 10, in collaboration with London West Bank Gallery owner Paul Dizzi Saunders.
Some of the UK’s leading urban and street artists are already offering their support including Carl Cashman, Ben Allen and Jim Star, Studio Philly, Carne Griffiths, Diff and Schoony.
Mr Stalham is hoping the auction will bring in the rest of what is needed.
“Bunty is the bravest little girl in the world - always full of hopes and dreams - an absolute inspiration to everyone she meets,” he said.
“She went into hospital on the Friday for her operation and was home on the Monday - her cast is off and she is enjoying the sunshine in her paddling pool.
“She can’t be fitted for anything for at least three months so we are hoping the auction will bring in the remainder of what we need.”
Before her operation, Bunty, who has a twin sister Esther and older sister Poppy, had already had two major bone graft operations this year, with one removing four inches of affected shin.
Her foot was attached to only two inches of bone from her ankle and was pulled up to meet two inches of bone coming down from her knee, joined by pins running through her leg from the outside.
Mr Stalham says she was in a wheelchair for months at a time when recovering from surgery.
But despite the numerous operations over six years of her life, the family were told she would lose her leg.
For information about the art auction visit www.facebook.com/events/244718956949338/.
To donate towards a prosthesis for Bunty visit www.gofundme.com/f/bionic-leg-for-super-bionic-girl.
