[Source: Daily Mail UK]
British doctors have helped a 12-year-old Ghanaian girl with a rare leg deformity to walk again.
The doctors carried out two ground breaking operations during which they had to break both her legs in three places.
Gloria Abeka, from Accra, will spend more than eight months in the UK recovering from the operations to correct her bowed legs, which also involved pinning them with 22 screws.
She is now able to sit and stand and she will soon be able to walk and play with friends for the first time.
She said the doctors who helped her have changed her life.
Gloria suffered a rare bone disease called Blount's and had grown accustomed to pain and disfigurement.
The condition - a severe growth disorder which caused both her legs to bend and twist inwards below the knees - left Gloria dependent upon crutches and a wheelchair, unable to play with friends or sit in comfort.
Blount's disease is a growth disorder of the shin bone that causes the lower leg to angle inward.
It occurs in children and the cause is unknown but it is thought to be due to the effect of weight on growing bone which prevents the inner part of the tibia from developing normally.
The condition is progressive and is most common among children of African ancestry.
Glora met Basingstoke-based consultant anaesthetist Keith Thomson last August during one of his regular visits to Africa with the charity organisation Mercy Ships, which provides free medical care and treatment to poor people in West Africa.
The youngster's plight inspired Mr Thomson to launch a UK-wide email hunt for a surgeon who might be able to help, which led him to Vel Sakthivel, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Southampton Children's Hospital, who specialises in complex knee problems.
Gloria and her mother Mercy Yeboah, 54, were flown over to meet Mr Sakthivel last August.
He assessed her and agreed to perform two ground breaking operations to extend both shin bones to allow her to stand up straight.
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