MADISON Shaw - the little girl born with a rare condition which leaves her like a ragdoll - has started school and is enjoying a new lease of life.

The four-year-old from Great Lever is happily settled in at Bowness Primary School. And has been so well that surgeons are now planning an operation to allow her to sit up independently for the first time.

Maddy, as she is known to her family and friends, was born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, which affects the nerves to the muscles. She will never walk and has a limited range of movements which means she cannot support herself.

The bright tot caught the imagination of local people when she set her heart on a bright pink wheelchar - her favourite colour. A campaign to raise the £3,300 for the special wheelchair quickly raised that amount, thanks to many kind donations, and other specialised equipment was also bought as a result.

But, the lively little girl was dogged by ill-health. Chest infections quickly worsened and meant she had to spend weeks in hospital, and her parents Donna and Gary accepted that she would be lucky to live beyond the age of 10.

Now, however, Maddy has been free from illness for around 18 months. "She didn't even get flu at Christmas when the rest of us were ill with it," said her mother at the family's Rufford Drive home. "We were all laid up and she was buzzing around in her wheelchair!"

Medical improvements have also given her a better prognosis. "We have heard of people living into their 20s and 30s, which is remarkable," added Donna.

And in September, Maddy went to school for the first time when she started at the Little Lever primary which her parents had already decided "felt completely right for Maddy."

She is now a happy pupil in Mrs Carol Yates' class, with a best friend of her own and a real interest in all her lessons.

"She can now write," said Donna. "And always insists on doing her homework at night. She tells me 'I've got to do my numbers and letters now' and takes it very seriously."