THE mother of a girl who was born with her tibia facing the wrong way has paid tribute to her daughter's bravery and the people who have helped with her recovery.

Thirteen-year-old Rebecca Pennington, of Mort Avenue in Latchford, has a medical condition that means she has no growth plates in one leg, which is two-and-a-half inches shorter than the other.

Rebecca had an operation at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital in June and underwent the Ilizarov procedure, which involved breaking her leg and inserting eight pins, four above and four below the break, to pull it apart.

The teenager, who is a pupil at Sir Thomas Boteler CE High School, has worn a brace for the past six months to lengthen her leg and she's had it tightened by 1mm each day.

Mum Mandy said: "Rebecca has been absolutely superb and she's been very brave. She came home earlier from hospital because she was doing so well and she was walking with her crutches just five days after the operation.

"She's had physiotherapy twice a week so that she can walk and weight-bear on her broken leg."

Rebecca has been staying with grandparents Dot and John Hilton in Hewitt Street, Latchford, for the past few months to aid her recovery and Mandy said that teachers and staff at school made special arrangements so that Rebecca could get to classes.

Mandy's employers at Warrington Hospital, and dad Mike's employers at Warrington Borough Transport, also allowed them to be flexible with shift patterns so that they could spend time with their daughter.

Mandy said: "We've even had strangers walk up to us in the street to see how Rebecca is.

"People have just been so nice and extremely caring.

"We're very grateful."

Rebecca - who is expected to make a full recovery - will be in the brace for another six weeks before she has a half-leg pot for 12 weeks and the youngster will also be continuing with her physiotherapy sessions.