A DISABLED two-year-old girl has been refused NHS funding for a prosthetic arm which will give her the chance to lead a normal life.
Poppy Pickford, whose congenital birth defect left her with a shortened right arm, needs a special silicone limb. Her mother Donna Padfield, 27, was told that the NHS will not provide one, since it would need replacing as Poppy grows.
Instead, they were supplied with an uncomfortable PVC arm that leaves Poppy in bruises.
After Miss Padfield’s referrals with specialists were repeatedly delayed, she has had to try to raise the funds to buy prosthetic arms from a private clinic. In six weeks, members of the public and local businesses have donated over £2,500.
“The service we’ve received from the NHS has been really poor,” Miss Padfield said. “I waited for eight months for any response and then we were delayed again. “Poppy needs the synthetic arm soon because the younger a child is, the better they adapt.
“All I want is to give my daughter the opportunity she needs. It’s lucky that the support we’ve received from the public has been so incredible. You don’t realise how generous people are going to be.”
Miss Padfield, from Holloway, is trying to raise £30,000 to provide Poppy with synthetic limbs as she grows up. She is holding a fundraising event at the Phibbers Bar on Holloway Road on Saturday 26 November. For more information email a.helping.hand.for.poppy@hotmail.co.uk
