A Sutton-at-Hone woman has slammed the NHS after a four-year-old girl was turned down for a “life-changing” operation.
Keeley Heatherly, 29, of Harold Road, claims the NHS granted Bailey Walters-Lawrence selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) - an operation which improves muscle stiffness in cerebral palsy.
However, mum Shermel Walters-Lawrence was told that Bailey had not been selected as part of clinical trials last September.
Bailey Walters-Lawrence
The NHS has said that Bailey can have the surgery in April but at a cost of £30,000 – and since finding out, Miss Heatherly is trying to raise as much money as she can for the Kilburn youngster.
She told News Shopper: “It’s heartbreaking and I don’t know Bailey personally but I just feel connected to her.
“It is absolutely disgusting that the NHS is taking this operation away from not just Bailey, others too.
“They can fund plastic surgery but can’t help a four-year-old girl walk. It’s horrific. They’re taking her childhood away from her and it’s not fair.
Keeley Heatherly
“She has had to have Botox injections to attempt to numb the pain in her lower limbs and in some muscles so she can’t walk.
“Her body is detracting and they’ve said she has to wait two years until the operation but she won’t have any legs by then.”
Bailey undergoes daily extensive physiotherapy to alleviate the pain in her lower limbs.
She can have an operation, which would enable her to walk unaided, on April 16 but Ms Walters-Lawrence will have to come up with £30,000 before April 1.
Miss Heatherly is looking to hold a fundraising event on March 30 but has not found a venue yet.
She said: “To be honest, I’m a mum-of-two and I have a five-year-old boy and I can’t even begin to imagine if he had to experience what Bailey is going through right now.
“When the NHS took Bailey’s operation away from her, they also took away her ability to walk - in the last two weeks, the bones in her right ankle have shattered.
“We’re trying to get National Cerebral Palsy charity to come down to the event and explain the effects of the disease to as many people as they can.
“Bailey’s mum will be coming down for the day. She can’t believe that we are making the effort and is overwhelmed with everyone’s generosity.”
An NHS England spokesman said: “Current evidence is limited, but together with NICE we are exploring SDR further through our innovative evaluation programme which offers treatment to a limited number of patients who meet the clinical criteria.
“Not only does this enable these children to have potentially life-changing surgery, but it also provides a real opportunity to gather the vital evidence we need on the effectiveness of the procedure, for the benefit of our patients.”
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