Girl aged three left paralysed from shoulders after suffering stroke

A THREE-year-old girl from Barnsley has been left paralysed from the shoulders down after suffering a stroke at home.

Mikka Davies had been a healthy toddler until she was suddenly struck down as she lay on a sofa.

Her mother Rachel Davies, 26, took Mikka to hospital in Barnsley and she was later transferred to Sheffield Children's Hospital where, after four weeks of extensive tests, the family were given the devastating news that Mikka had suffered a massive stroke.

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Since then the little girl, who is now back at home, has regained slight movement in her right arm and left thumb but is otherwise paralysed and has to wear a body harness for support.

Miss Davies said: "She had been crying, but I ignored her at first because I thought she just wanted attention.

"She asked for a biscuit but she just couldn't take it from me. It was so strange.

"The first I thought was, has she had a stroke, but then I thought about that advert on TV showing the warning signs about strokes. It talks about one side of the body but this wasn't, it was both sides."

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Miss Davies and her partner Richard Walmsley, 28, who also have a four-month-old son called Blake, have been told by doctors that Mikka will need treatment at the specialist spinal unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire.

She said: "We don't know whether she will be able to walk again, they are just going to do the best they can.

"It's so tragic, you don't think anyone so young would suffer a stroke."