ONE year on from undergoing a pioneering surgery usually only offered to children, a Radcliffe woman’s dream of walking is moving closer to reality.

Cerebral palsy sufferer Laura Ramsden, of Bowker Street, last year became one of the oldest people in the UK to have a Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR), an operation to reduce tight muscle tone by cutting nerves.

Since then, the 35-year-old has been going through a gruelling rehabilitation process, and took her first steps as an adult in February.

But after tendon and ankle surgery recently, she has spent the last two months with her legs in a brace and unable to bear any weight on them.

She said: “It’s going alright, but it’s unusual. For nine weeks I have not been able to bear any weight at all, so it’s been a very strange experience.

“But the important thing is that it’s working, and now I just have to keep building up my muscles.

“It’s an ongoing process but each time things get a little bit better and I can see the difference it is making.

“The muscles at the front of your legs give you the power to stand up, but mine have never had to do that before now.

“I am starting trying to stand again and things are going well. I have probably been out of the house only five or six times in the last nine weeks, but sometimes to move forwards you have to take a few steps backwards first.”

Laura has already raised more than £10,000 in her battle to walk, and must continue fundraising to cover the enormous costs of rehab and physiotherapy, none of which is provided by the NHS.

Her latest fundraiser will be a family disco event this Saturday at St Philips Community Centre, in Higher Dean Street, to celebrate one year since her surgery.

She added: “It’s now one year since my SDR surgery and I wanted to do something to celebrate and also to keep the fundraising going.

“We’re going to have a celebration of getting through the last year, which has been really difficult at times.

“My physiotherapy treatment is still ongoing and I have got another two years to go on that, so we need to keep the campaign going.”

The disco starts at 7.30pm on Saturday, with tickets £3 on the door.

To make a donation: visit youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/laura-s-wish-fundraising-and-sdr-fund-2014-15/121155