Help this 'dance-mad' 11-year old from Felpham get the surgery she needs to follow her dreams

Scarlett Rose Davis loves dance. Part of the team at That's Rhythm!, in Bognor Regis, she's an avid Ballroom-style and Latin dancer. Last November, she won second place at the ISTD grand finals in Blackpool.

"It's a real passion," said dad Nicholas. "It means the world to her."

This is despite the fact that she's living with Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: a condition which causes curvature of the spine and has kept her in a specialist back brace 22 hours a day for the last two years.

Now, however, she has entered a rapid growth period and the brace no longer works. In order to continue to grow as she should, Scarlett will need surgery, and this leaves the Felpham family with two options.

The first is available on the NHS and, though it's obviously free, it involves a complete fusion of Scarlett's spine; seriously limiting her movement, her flexibility, and her ability to dance.

The alternative is Vertebral Body Tethering: a new treatment which uses special cords to straighten the spine while retaining flexibility. It's perfect for a young dancing queen like Scarlett, but it costs £80,000.

To make it happen, Scarlett and her family are hoping to raise £60,000 towards the surgery by next month.

"(With the NHS option) she'll only be able to bend at the hip and at the neck in Scarlett's case because she has a double curve. People with just a single curve will have a little bit of flexibility after the surgery, but Scarlett would be rigid."

But it's not just about giving Scarlett the flexibility she needs to dance. It's about something much bigger, something much more permanent: "She just wants to be normal, for want of a better word. She wants to do what all her mates do," Mr Davis said.

"When she goes to secondary school, she doesn't want to need a brace, which would be fantastic. She would be able to do anything, within reason. This could absolutely change her life."

To find out more about Scarlett and her fundraiser, click here. Read more

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