A five-year-old girl managed to take her first steps, despite doctors telling her parents she would probably never be able to walk. But tragically, the breakthrough came just days after her dad passed away.
Felicity Edgar developed cerebral palsy after she was starved of oxygen at birth following hospital delays in getting a caesarean section. Felicity was not breathing when she was born and had to be resuscitated.
The incurable condition affects movement and coordination. It can leave sufferers with serious brain damage.
Now, the family is taking legal action against the hospital trust. One of the aims is to secure further treatment.
As well as walking, the youngster has also learned to read, despite being told she was unlikely to even be able to talk. Felicity was already dubbed a ‘miracle’ child by her mum Amber and the specialist therapist team she had been working with after taking her first steps with a walker in lockdown in 2020. She stunned everyone again when she walked across their living room with no assistance.
The family tragically lost Felicity’s father Adam, who died aged just 26, to pneumonia on Christmas Eve last year. Despite coping with the devastating loss of her father, Felicity defied the odds only days later when she said "look mummy, I’m going to walk".
Mum Amber, from Welling in Kent, is now launching a civil claim against the hospital through law firm Osbornes Law. Her legal team is looking at getting her Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital, which could reduce stiffness in her muscles.
The law firm has secured a substantial interim payment from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust to pay for rehabilitation, care and specialist equipment. The trust has admitted that care provided for Felicity “fell below the appropriate standard during her mother’s labour in the period running up to her birth on 11 April 2017 and that, with the care of the proper standard, she would have avoided sustaining such neurological damage”.
Amber, 26, said: “We were all devastated at losing Adam and especially Felicity as he was her best friend. About a week after he passed away Felicity suddenly said ‘look mummy, I’m going to walk’ and she launched herself across the room.
“I just burst into tears from happiness after all of the pain I had felt from Adam passing away. She continues to prove everybody wrong.
“She can even read now when doctors said it wouldn’t be possible. When Felicity was born we so nearly lost her but now look at her. She is our miracle child.
“Since she walked unaided Felicity has been learning how to ride a trike and she’s a proper little speedy girl on that. She’s also very keen on dancing the Macarena.”
Felicity was born on 11 April 2017 at the Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital in Hammersmith, West London. Her mum had a normal pregnancy but mistakes by doctors, which led to a delay in her getting a caesarean section, resulted in Felicity being starved of oxygen.
Jodi Norton of Osbornes Law, a solicitor who represents the family, said: “Felicity’s story is truly inspirational and she continues to amaze us all with her astonishing progress. We are grateful for the trust’s continued support and for the recent interim payment of compensation which will have a huge impact on Felicity’s life and enable her to continue with her rehabilitation.”
