Birthday hope of girl paralysed by bullet

The parents of Thusha Kamaleswaran have not told her that doctors say she is permanently paralysed from the chest down because they do not want to upset her.

Her father Jeyakumar, 37, also known as Sassi, said: “July 20 is her next birthday. She recently asked me, ‘My birthday is coming... will I be able to get up and walk by then?’ So we just said that she will be out of her wheelchair in time for her birthday party.

“We want to give her hope that everything will be all right and that one day she will be able to do all the things she did before, so we’ll keep lying to her for as long as we can.”

Thusha, who had hopes of becoming a professional dancer, returned to her home in Ilford, Essex, on Thursday after spending a year in hospital.

Aged just five, she was critically injured when three men opened fire into her aunt’s south London shop in March last year.

The bullet hit her in the chest and passed through the seventh vertebra of her spine, leaving her wheelchair-bound for life.

Her parents revealed that surgeons at King’s College Hospital in London repeatedly revived her after she experienced two heart attacks and suffered extensive internal bleeding.

She was moved to Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire when her life was out of danger, where she had undergone intensive physiotherapy.

Mr Kamaleswaran said his daughter has gained some feeling in both legs and sometimes on a “good day” she can wiggle her toes. But he revealed that the doctors have warned them not to expect too much.

Three people were convicted last week by an Old Bailey jury of causing Thusha grievous bodily harm with intent.