A FATHER has heaped praise on staff at Royal Cornwall Hospital after his seriously ill daughter was once again admitted to the facility.
In 2013 the West Briton featured the story of brave Sophie Wherry, now 14, who underwent a major spinal fusion operation to combat scoliosis, a condition that causes her spine to excessively curve sideways and if untreated, can lead to fatal heart and lung problems.
The teenager from Barripper also suffers from a genetic disorder called myotonic muscular dystrophy, which progressively deteriorates her muscles and which she inherited from her mum, Vicki.
Unfortunately Sophie has once again been admitted to the Royal Cornwall Hospital with pneumonia where she has been moved into the high dependency ward.
John Wherry, Sophie's father, said: "Although she has picked up over the last couple of days, she has lost a load of weight and doctors are still concerned about her lungs, heart and nutrition so there's a lot going on.
"She is incredible and so brave and we just want her home as soon as possible, although we've been told that it is likely to be many weeks.
"Despite all of this, the nurses and doctors at the hospital have been absolutely amazing.
"You quite often hear of the negatives there, but with Sophie they have been brilliant and doing everything that they can to help her."
Born two months prematurely Sophie had a very difficult start in life.
She was aged just 7, when she made her first trip to the London hospital for her first operation.
She has since travelled to London some 50 times for check-ups, emergency operations and to have new rods fitted to support her back.
Another family member full of admiration for Sophie is her uncle Ian who has set up a fundraising page to help the family finance their fuel and car parking costs when visiting the hospital.
"She is an inspirational girl and I have set up the page to help her parents pay for the petrol and parking charged as the NHS will only help out for one journey and one day's parking a week. So far we have spent over £100 in parking and £200 in fuel.
"Both her parents have health issues of their own and require extra effort to make the daily trip to care for Sophie."
To visit Sophie's fundraising page go to www.supportforsophie.webs.com
