By Thom Kennedy

Last updated at 07:41, Friday, 31 October 2008

Two years ago, Olivia Story’s parents feared for their daughter’s life.

Olivia with dad Mike and mum Kim

The two-year-old was lying in a hospital bed, struck down by meningitis, and doctors warned she might not last the night.

But she fought on and beat the illness, which robbed her of both legs and an arm

So it was all the more special when, last month, the sprightly four-year-old started her first day at Caldew Lea School in Carlisle.

And parents Mike and Kim, of Lazonby Terrace, couldn’t be more proud of their healthy, happy little girl.

Mike said: “She has amazed us. We didn’t see much of a life at all, and didn’t think she would walk again.

“It isn’t like she is different really, all the other kids accept her for who she is and she is very popular.

“Her teachers were worried at first, they didn’t know what she would and wouldn’t be able to do, but now she has started they don’t know what they were worried about.”

She is now used to using her artificial limbs, and her friends accept her disability, meaning she regularly goes about her day without her false hand.

She is even beginning to master her bicycle and has joined the Stagecoach Theatre School in Carlisle, and will appear in a Christmas play.

Mike said: “She is going to be a singing penguin.

“She loves the stage school. They do singing, acting and drama, and we think it has increased her confidence.

“To save all the kids coming up to her she and the teacher stood up and told them all she was poorly and her legs had gone to heaven.”

The family still remember the day, July 13, 2006, when Olivia woke up feeling unwell after an ear infection.

Seeing her fragile condition, they took her to hospital

Kim said: “That day we didn’t think she was going to live.

“Her heart stopped, and it wasn’t until later that we knew she was going to survive.

“The hospital were saying if she made it through the night it would be a bonus, we were thinking she was going to die.”

Mike added: “It is always in the back of your mind, every time she gets ill, as it was an ear infection that kicked it all off in the first place.”

Olivia must have her legs replaced three times a year, which would cost £12,500 privately, meaning that she is a regular visitor to the Cumberland Infirmary.

Mike and Kim have set up a trust in Olivia’s name to buy prosthetic limbs for her when she is older.

You can visit the website www.oliviastory.co.uk, or find her trust’s group on Facebook.

First published at 05:14, Friday, 31 October 2008
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk