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Girl has leg reattached backwards after cancer surgery


A young girl has had her leg reattached backwards following a battle with bone cancer so her ankle can eventually replace the leg’s original knee.

Seven-year-old Amelia Eldred, from the UK, put on a brave face as she spoke about her leg – flexing her foot all the way up to her face.

“When I look in the mirror it looks strange, and then when I look at it face to face it looks normal.” Amelia told Reuters.

Amelia was diagnosed last year and had surgery to amputate the limb.

A young girl in the UK has had her leg amputated and reattached backwards following a struggle with bone cancer. Source: Reuters
A young girl in the UK has had her leg amputated and reattached backwards following a struggle with bone cancer. Source: Reuters

It is a rare procedure called rotationplasty – removing the thigh, then reattaching the lower part of the leg, backwards.

Doctors hope one day it will help her walk again, partly with the use of a prosthetic limb.

The rare procedure which Amelia Eldred received is called rotationplasty. Source: Reuters
The rare procedure which Amelia Eldred received is called rotationplasty. Source: Reuters

“If she hadn’t had this sort of procedure she would have had an amputation just below the hip joint and that would have been very difficult for her to wear a prosthesis and would have been very difficult for her to have a good level of mobility,” Royal Orthopeadic Hospital Consultant,Professor Lee Jeys told Reuters.

Fundraisers have been set up to pay for the development of the prosthetic Amelia needs.

She hopes one day she will be able to do her favourite activities again – including dancing.