A BRAVE Netherton girl who won the hearts of Dudley News readers is continuing her battle against severe disabilities.

Kaysie Robinson, aged 10, has cerebral palsy after being deprived of oxygen for 33 minutes during her birth at the former Wordsley hospital in Stourbridge.

An appeal backed by the News in 2007 helped raise thousands of pounds for equipment to help Kaysie cope with her condition, which means she cannot speak, sit up or eat without assistance.

Despite her worsening health, she now has scoliosis and epilepsy, her mum, Jane Robinson, says her daughter still manages to enjoy life.

Jane, aged 38, said: “She is still a very happy little girl, she likes to be out and about and she likes swimming and to go to the beach.”

Kaysie faces a number of daunting challenges; she has to have annual Botox injections in her joints to prevent pressure build-up which could snap her tendons causing bones to break and is in constant danger of having a fatal epileptic fit.

Jane said: “You have to take every day as it comes and make the most of the time we have got, you don’t know what is round the corner.

“You have got to go with it and do your best and when your child smiles you know you are doing a good job.”

However, Jane added: "The amount of time Kaysie has to wait for treatment and procedures is unacceptable. We had to wait nine months for the Botox treatment, which makes a massive difference.

"She's also been waiting six months to have a filling for one of her teeth. That's too long to wait for someone in pain yet we keep being put at the back of the list. That simply isn't good enough.

"And it's not just Kaysie. I talk to parents at the disabled school she attends and they have similar experiences. The NHS really needs a shake up because it's not right putting disabled children through undue distress.”

Funds raised during the Dudley News campaign helped pay for a frame to help Kaysie stand, a trike, a specially adapted car seat and a sensory room at her home.

She has now grown out of some of the equipment, which has been passed on to other needy children but Kaysie still uses her sensory room to relax with her new baby brother, Alfie, aged 16 months.

As she faces a challenging future, Jane has never forgotten the people who gave their time and money to help her daughter in the past.

She said: “To this day we still appreciate every single person who sent money, it made a massive difference to our lives. We are grateful to everybody.”