AN ARTIFICAL foot is being crafted to help burns survivor Terri Calvesbert walk and run.The five-year-old, who was burned as a baby in a fire in 1998, escaped with her right foot virtually intact but her left was reduced to a stump.

By Tracey Sparling

AN ARTIFICAL foot is being crafted to help burns survivor Terri Calvesbert walk and run.

The five-year-old, who was burned as a baby in a fire in 1998, escaped with her right foot virtually intact but her left was reduced to a stump.

Now she is at school the time has come for an artificial foot identical to her right one, to be made.

Her dad Paul, 27, said: "She has been wearing a cover over the stump for a while and that has gone well.

"There were no complications at all, so that means we can go ahead and try an artificial foot now."

The foot is being made by regional experts at the Disablement Service Centre in Norwich.

Terri is due to visit Chris Parsons, senior prosthesistist on Wednesday , to be measured up for the silicon foot.

Chris said he had never seen a case like Terri before, and her injuries needed special consideration.

He said: "We will look at Terri's other foot and try to match the silicon one to that.

"It won't have perfect definition, and it will be very heavy, unfortunately, but it has to be made of silicon because most of Terri's skin has been grafted and silicon is the only material which won't react against her skin.

"It is the first time Terri has had a prosthesis, because she's won a built-up shoe before, so it will be case of seeing how she gets on with it."

He said the foot will take about four weeks to make, because a wax mould has to be built first, then duplicated and silicon injected in.

Paul said: "If it all goes well it should help her walk and run better.

"She can move quite well now, but still has trouble putting all her weight on her left foot."

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The Terri Calvesbert Appeal has raised £100,000 for her future, since it launched within days of the fire in 1998.

Donations can be sent c/o Geraldine Thompson, Editor's Secretary, The Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN.