Bullied girl's leg plea 'heartbreaking' for dad

A girl's plea to have her amputated foot back for Christmas after being bullied was "absolutely heartbreaking", her parents have said.

In a widely seen social media message, the parents of 11-year-old Natalia from Cheshire have called on others to "check in" with their children to prevent further bullying.

Her father Chris told the BBC that since she had started high school in September, some students had been "hurting her feelings" by making nasty remarks, pulling faces or laughing about her disability.

He said school staff had been "dealing with it", adding he wanted parents to talk to children about bullying.

"A lot of young kids don't see other kids' disabilities. It's as they get older that they start to see them," he added.

After taking medical advice when Natalia was born with a leg development condition, he and his wife Katie opted for an operation amputating their daughter's left leg so she could have "as stable a life as possible".

"She gets pains at times but generally speaking she has a normal mobile life," Chris said.

Natalia is an avid Liverpool fan and regularly plays sports, he added.

"People have grown up with us, so they don't see her as different.

"She's got a great unit of friends - that's not an issue. It's just older children, mainly boys, just saying nasty things to her. They laugh at her at times.

"Sometimes boys think they're impressing people by picking on other people."

The bullying prompted Natalia to ask for her foot back on her Christmas wish-list last year, which Chris said was "absolutely heartbreaking".

Chris found it "not nice" because there was "nothing we could do".

He said Natalia had experienced bullying "sporadically" since joining high school last year.

After posting about the situation on LinkedIn, he said many respondents reported similar experiences involving children aged between 11 and 14.

"It always seems to be the first couple of years of high school where it seems to be the biggest problem," he said.

He believes the return of school nurses could reduce mental as well as physical challenges and wants "people to check in with their children".

"I don't think a lot of bullies bully on purpose," Chris said, adding: "I think it's because they've got a problem of their own and that can escalate as they become an adult.

"You might actually speak to your children about not picking on other children and you might find out they're actually being bullied.

"They've just kept it to themselves."

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