Carrickfergus schoolgirl's joy after anonymous donation funds scoliosis surgery

A Carrickfergus schoolgirl who was facing a wait of at least a year for spinal surgery to treat her scoliosis may be able to travel abroad as early as next month for the operation thanks to an anonymous donation of £40,000 to a fundraising appeal.

Emily Scott, 12, learned of her diagnosis back in March - just before lockdown. Her family say until then, she'd always been very active.

Scoliosis is a sideways curvature of the spine . It can affect people of any age, but most often starts in children aged 10 to 15. Many will not need any treatment and only a small number will need to have surgery on their spine. Following her diagnosis, Emily's mum Brenda had launched a fundraising appeal to take Emily abroad for surgery, faced with a shutdown in services here due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Emily's family say local people have responded generously to the appeal, but thanks to the anonymous donation of £40,000, Emily could be flying to Turkey for an operation as early as next month.

Her parents are continuing to fundraise for the additional costs involved in having to go abroad for the live-changing surgery.

They say that if they exceed their target, they've promised to pay it forward to help other children who have scoliosis.

Our reporter Barbara McCann went along to meet them: