Cerebral Palsy

Her parents, Andy and Alison, refused to accept the prognosis and decided to send Soleil - whose name means sunshine - to a nursery which encourages mainstream and special-needs children to mix.

Soleil has now made a remarkable breakthrough by taking her first steps.

She tottered across the floor at Charnwood Nursery in Heaton Moor, Stockport, for the first time - in a bid to keep up with her friends.

Staff contacted Andy, 52, and Alison, 42, immediately.

They are delighted she is proving the medics wrong.

Alison said: "We were thrilled when we heard she had walked across the room.

She has a lot of friends here who are mainstream children and I think that has given her the motivation to want to do things with them.

“She also thrives in this environment because she knows people care about it when she does something new.

Challenge “She loves the challenge and is doing all sorts of things we thought she would never do.” And dad Andy said of his amazing daughter: “I heard the name in Spain.

It means ray of sunshine and we could not have picked a better name for her.” Soleil’s amazing first steps came in an unbelievable week for staff at Charnwood as they were also rated as one of the best nurseries in the country.

They were judged outstanding in all five categories examined by Ofsted.

The day after Soleil started walking, another child at Charnwood who had never spoken beca...

Favourites to win the men's race and R10 000 in prize money are top local extreme swimmers Barend Nortje, Tyron Venter and Marius de la Rey.

Natalie du Toit will swim for a sixth successive win in the women's race with strong competition expected from Carina Bruwer.

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Favourites to win the men’s race and R10,000 in prize money are top local extreme swimmers Barend Nortje, Tyron Venter and Marius de la Rey.

Natalie du Toit will swim for a sixth successive win in the women’s race with strong competition expected from Carina Bruwer.

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