Rutherglen girl gets date for operation to enable her to walk
Nov 14 2012
by Will Henshaw, Rutherglen Reformer
Rutherglen girl Jessica Penny has the dates for an operation that could enable her to walk.
Jessica, from Burnside, suffered cerebral palsy after being starved of oxygen at birth.
The five-year-old also suffers from speech difficulties and needs the operation to be able to walk unaided.
At the moment she relies on a walking aid or the help of her parents to get around.
Earlier in the year mum Lynne and dad Colin set off to raise £60,000 for the procedure called selective dorsal rhizotomy that will hopefully allow Jessica to walk.
The operation takes place at St Louis Children’s Hospital, Missouri and is preformed by Dr T S Park.
Now they have reached their target they held ‘Jessica’s Ball’ earlier this month- a special event at the Crowne Plaza in Glasgow as the culmination of all the fundraising efforts that helped Wee Jess reach her target.
It was a fitting way to round off an extraordinary journey, and the Penny family were even more heartened when they received word from Dr Park that Jessica will have her operation on January 22.
Although the Penny family have already reached their target for the operation, any subsequent funds raised will go towards Jessica’s physiotherapy.
Mum Lynne said: “It was a really good night, Jessica stayed up and was on the dance floor till past midnight! She loved it.
“We had an eight minute video of Jessica’s journey, to when she started to do her video to the fundraising now. We wanted to say thank you to everyone who had contributed.
“We had raffles, people have been so generous with their donations and the auction prizes.
“For the whole night we made £6000, which was tremendous.
“When we first heard about the operation we were really excited!
“Now it’s sunk in though we are quite scared! Our emotions are all over the place.”
