Mother of girl hit by London bus to carry Paralympic torch

Photo: Brave Pollyanna Hope is a keen ballet dancer, despite losing her leg in a horrific accident

The mother of a little girl who lost her leg when she was hit by a London bus will carry the Paralympic torch today.

Sarah Hope and her daughter Pollyanna were both treated at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital by surgeon Simon Eccles following the crash in April 2007 which also killed Sarah’s mother, Elizabeth Panton.

Nothing could be done to save Pollyanna’s lower right leg but, now aged seven, she wears a prosthetic limb and is a happy little girl who loves ballet.

Sarah Hope says: “Simon Eccles treated both me and Pollyanna at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital after the accident and he has continued to do so ever since.

“He is a wonderful surgeon and I would never go anywhere else for treatment. Simon is kind, funny and however low I have felt walking into his clinic, I have never walked out at the end of an appointment feeling down.”

Sarah will be carrying the Paralympic torch today as an ambassador for Elizabeth’s Legacy of Hope, the charity she helped to set up in memory of her mother who died in the bus crash.

Sarah says: “We set up the charity to provide prosthetic limbs to amputees in developing countries. It became unacceptable to my sister and myself that thousands of children in the world do not have access to prosthetic limbs like Pollyanna my daughter.”

• More information about the work of the charity can be found at www.elizabethslegacyofhope.org