Paralysed girl, 6, learning to walk again

A six-year-old girl left paralysed from the waist down after undergoing life-saving spinal surgery has returned to school while continuing to relearn how to walk.

Sofia Hill, who lives near Bristol, was diagnosed with hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia - also known as Osler-Weber-Rendu syndrome - when she was four. The genetic disorder causes abnormal blood vessels, which were found on her spine and in her lungs.

Sofia underwent two 15-hour procedures at Bristol Children's Hospital to remove the huge mass on her spine in July 2024, but was left paralysed from the waist down.

Her mother, Kate, said: "The alternative was she was going to die if we didn't do the surgery."

Sofia's parents noticed that she began dragging her left leg, falling over and stumbling in June 2024.

As the symptoms came on suddenly and without explanation, they took her to hospital.

An orthopaedic consultant found no injury to her leg, hip or knee, so referred her to a neurologist.

Two separate neurologists suspected she had cerebral palsy, but scans of Sofia's brain and spine indicated an "incredibly rare" mass on her spine and at least 10 others in her lungs.

"The doctors said we just haven't seen them grow on a child's spine before, because they normally start growing when you hit puberty... I don't think anyone expected it to be that diagnosis," Kate said.

Sofia was discharged from hospital in February 2025 and then began intensive physiotherapy and rehabilitation.

Twice a week, she attends sessions with Neurokinex, a charity that provides specialist activity-based rehabilitation.

With their care, she has learned to take steps on crutches.

Kate said the next goal is to get her walking with poles.

"It's really hard to get Sofia to appreciate that she's got to do it now, because we've got to get these pathways firing again," Kate said.

"If we don't, then the chances are she's going to spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair, and there is a significant chance of this.

"So we just need to do everything we can while she's still young, and while, hopefully, the connections between her brain and her spine and her legs can try and regrow," she added.

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