A YOUNG girl is recovering from a life-altering operation to correct her badly disfigured feet.

Little Katie Power, aged 10, of Lonsdale Road has a beaming smile and is full of fun - but she was born with a crippling disfigurement - both her feet were facing the wrong way round.

Now, Katie, who has spent most of her childhood in callipers and plaster cast has had her third major operation, carried out at Booth Hall Children's Hospital, Manchester, and is hoping she will soon be taking her first steps towards a better life.

The four hour operation has left Katie with a metal fixator from the knee downward in her left leg, with eight metal bars in her leg and foot. When this is removed in 16 weeks, she will spend 10 weeks in plaster before waiting six months to have her right leg operated on.

Katie's mum, Alison, said: "We are relieved it is over with and Katie has been very brave. It will be five or six months before we know for sure how successful it has been but we are hoping for the best."

Before the operation Katie attended a fear management course, where she visited the operating theatre, met the staff and anaesthetist and carried out a role play exercise using dolls. She even designed her own drawing which was projected onto the ceiling of the operating theatre.

Now Katie, who attends Ladybrige Primary School but is due to start high school this year, said she has just one wish.

Mrs Power, who runs the Bolton Saturday Club, which performs shows to raise money for local charities said: "All Katie wants to do is wear a proper pair of school shoes. She has always had to wear trainers or boots and she can't wait to put on a normal pair of shoes - just like all the other children."