A three-year-old Scots toddler who is paralysed from the waist down has had to endure 22 operations since she was born.
Little Amber McRae, from East Kilbride, has a rare form of Spina Bifida which causes a gap in the spine, when a baby's spine and spinal cord do not develop properly in the womb. She has had surgery on both her back and head to help cope with the building of fluid and pressure on the brain.
Her mum, Leanne Belch, 38, says she was left stunned by doctors when they broke the news to her following a routine check-up during her pregnancy, reports Glasgow Live.
She said: "I was 22 weeks pregnant when I went for a scan and that's when they picked up that Amber had the most severe type of spina bifida.
"Her spine is split from her chest down and they also said there was a lot fluid on her brain. I was told that many people terminate the pregnancy at that stage because the baby could be born severely brain damaged but I decided to continue with it.
"She was born four weeks early through emergency section at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. Amber was taken straight to intensive care and received her first surgery within 24 hours of her being born.
"They needed to close her back up because her spinal cord was outside her back in a bubble.
"With the fluid build up in her head she received her second surgery in five days to put a shunt inside. We got home for two weeks but the shunt became blocked and she was back in to intensive care. To this day she has had 22 surgeries."
The heartbroken mum was in pieces after the news about her daughter's condition was broken to the family.
However, after researching the condition online Leanne discovered that her daughter could still have a very bright future.
She continued: "I had heard of the condition but never really knew what it was. I started to do research myself when I came across a charity in Cumbernauld called Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Scotland.
"I went onto their Facebook page and saw lots of families with children who had Amber's condition. I saw that these children were doing well, which was reassuring and it gave me hope.
"Doctors told me that Spina Bifida was like a snowflake condition, all children who have it are impacted differently. Unfortunately for Amber, her condition was so severe that she will always be in a wheelchair. The good thing is that she doesn't have any brain damage."
Most of the surgeries Amber had had were carried out on her brain due to the blocked shunt.
Leanne and Amber's dad, Paul McRae, still have to be extremely wary as their daughter's condition could turn at any moment.
The mum said: "She became really poorly. Amber stopped eating lost lots of weight, had headaches, and vomited every night, it turned out that she had high pressure in her head.
"Between the hours of midnight and 6am the pressure in her head rises. Her last surgery was just in February to put in a programmable shunt which adapts and it has worked really well.
"Each time they open her head up they say there is a chance of her having seizures, epilepsy, a bleed on the brain and other things, so we never know how it is going to go. So far the surgeons at the Queen Elizabeth have been amazing with her."
Despite the extreme case of Spina Bifida and a build of pressure in the head, Amber has taken life in her stride, her mum says. The 'witty' three-year-old continues to do everything with a smile, but does struggle to understand why she can't do all of the same things her friends can do.
Leanne said: "Amber is amazing in her wheelchair and she manages to whizz about the place. I think because she is fully aware of what is going on she can't get very frustrated. She knows she can't walk but can't understand why all her friends are running about.
"When we go to the park and she sees children running around she sometimes cries and gets frustrated. I find it hard to tell her what's wrong because she is still so young. Amber goes to nursery full-time and she loves it. When she comes home we do as much as possible to make her happy. She loves going into the garden, playing with bubbles, water, and sand.
"Amber is very witty and chats to everybody. She knows all the staff in the hospital by their first names and chats away to them."
The family of four are excited to be moving into their new home. Leanne is also raising cash for a big extension to give Amber a better quality of life. The parents are hoping to be able to build a bedroom and wet room to the ground floor, allowing Amber to roam freely.
The mum said: "We've been fortunate to buy a new house but all the bedrooms are upstairs which isn't suitable for Amber.
"We are now looking to add a bedroom and a wet room for her. I asked the South Lanarkshire Council for funding but I was told that they stopped the funding for bedroom extensions in 2009 but they could possibly help towards a wet room but it's not guaranteed.
"We met a builder who quoted us £80,000 which is a lot of money to fork out ourselves.
"With Amber being wheelchair dependent the extension would mean that she'd be able to get to her bedroom and wet room on her own. Without it, we would have to carry her upstairs to her room and to the toilet every three hours which would be a huge strain on our backs. Our focus is to get the extension done.
"I want Amber to realise that she can be independent and with the extension it means that we can be for as long as we need to be."
The family is also asking local businesses to come forward to help raise the cash.
To donate to the GoFundMe click here.
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