On the 8th December I was admitted into Great Ormond Street Hospital for a spinal fusion due to my scoliosis.

I had already had the MAGEC rods put in by GOSH for three years and because I had stopped growing it was time to go under the knife again. Over the three years I have been back to GOSH regularly to have my rods extended. This is a fascinating procedure because it is not invasive. The rods have small motors in them, and one of the staff uses magnets on the skin of my back to move the rods to keep up with my growth.

We got to the ward pretty early in the morning, but I wasn’t put to sleep until about 11 o’clock. I was pretty nervous about the anaesthetic, but I was on a heated mattress, the height of luxury. I just shut my eyes as if I was going to sleep.

We had been told the operation would be 7 – 10 hours but it was much quicker than that in the end. When I got out of theatre I was put into HDU which was nice and quiet and I wasn’t in much pain. The staff were amazing and looked after me so well.

When I was moved to the main ward things only got better. I was standing up after a day and I felt pretty good. One day a therapy dog came round, and it was so cute and reminded me of Grandma’s cockerpoo, Rosie, and cavachon, Polly – who is pretty naughty I have to say. I also met Snow White and Dopey, which definitely made my stay at the hospital a bit more special.

My friends from school were really great and travelled into London to see me, bringing lots of presents, and even an advent calendar they had made. I was overwhelmed. I have now been at home, back from hospital, for about a week and it feels so good. Although the hospital was amazing, it’s always nice to be at home and after a year I should be able to do practically anything I want – except bouncing about on a trampoline.

Incidentally, did you know that J M Barrie gave all the Peter Pan rights to Great Ormond Street Hospital in 1929. I think that’s wonderful.