Morecambe woman's £45k bid for life-changing op to stop her becoming wheelchair-bound by her 30s

Shauney Huntriss, 25, is partially sighted and suffers from cerebral palsy, which affects her lower limbs.

She needs crutches to walk and has been told that if she does not have surgery, she will be in a wheelchair by the time she's in her thirties as the muscles in her lower legs become tighter.

We reported three years ago how Shauney was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at four months old.

She has been fundraising to pay for selective dorsal rhizotomy surgery, which she hopes will give her a new lease of life, and allow her to live ‘normally’ like her twin sister Hollie.

She currently has to use sticks and a wheelchair to get about.

The procedure costs £45,000 including rehabilitiation and is currently unavailable on the NHS, and is only performed by a few hospitals in the UK.

Her fundraising page has so far raised just over £11,000.

"I have been told if I don't have this operation soon I will end up in a wheelchair permanently," Shauney said. "This is devastating news to me and my family. I just want to be independent like everyone else my age.

"This operation could change my life for the better as I would be able to walk unaided and alongside my twin sister without pain."

Shauney's partner Danny Seed said: "The spasticity and stiffness in her legs will continue to worsen as Shauney gets older. By mid to late 30s she may have already lost her ability to walk, and her independence with it. ‍

"She has almost given up hope; she told me that if she ends up bound to a chair unable to walk or carry out day to day activities that we perhaps all take for granted, she wouldn't want that life.

"As Shauney's partner, it was hard to hear.

"She's not getting any support off the NHS, she's having to raise the funds herself and with the pandemic and with a lot of people struggling right now, it's meant Shauney's campaign has come to a critical point.

"She doesn't have time on her side, the sooner she has this operation the better quality of life she will have."

To read more about Shauney's story, go to her Facebook page here.