LITTLE Maisy Kidd-Munnery is certainly a fighter.

Born nine weeks prematurely, she suffered two brain haemorrhages that left her blind, unable to speak and diagnosed with cerebral palsy and a severe form of epilepsy.

At one point, Maisy, of Dovercourt, was having up to 200 seizures a day.

Now aged 11, she has a daily battle with pain and is not able to leave her home for long.

As well as having a dislocated hip, which has deteriorated over the past year, and a deformed thigh bone, Maisy (pictured with sister Poppy) has a curvature in her spine and needs to wear a spinal brace to delay any further deterioration for as long as possible.

However, she is not able to tolerate this for long, so she also uses a special Lycra suit to support her posture.

Maisy also finds her wheelchair too uncomfortable to use for more than a few hours and needs a custom-moulded seat to reduce her pain, giving her family the freedom to leave home for longer periods.

With the seat costing £4,637, her parents Sophie and Matt turned to Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children for help.

Now the charity is calling on people to come forward to help fund the equipment.

Sophie said: “When Maisy was born, she spent six weeks in the hospital’ s special care unit and we weren’t given much hope, so we couldn’t believe it when we finally got to take her home.

“Eleven years later, she is an amazing little girl and quite a few people are surprised at some of the things she can do – like eating.

“She is still able to eat pureed food safely and her favourite meal is chick en casserole with dumplings, and chocolate sponge and custard.

“Because she is blind, she developed acute hearing and is now able to recognise some of the world around her through sound and we use music to help distinguish between different activities and different times of the day.

“She is sometimes able to use body language and makes sounds to let us know if she likes something or not.

“We know if she is happy or sad – and for us, these vocalisations are beautiful to hear.”

Sophie added getting the specialist seat would be a dream come true for the family.

She said: “At home, Maisy has different pieces of equipment so she can be as comfor table as possible and her posture is supported, which has prevented a massive amount of deterioration in her condition.

“However, when we leave the house at the moment she has just her wheelchair, which she finds very uncomfortable.

“When Maisy is in one position for too long, it causes her more pain and this has an impact on the rest of the family too.

“The special seat she needs would hold her in a really good position and make her so much more comfor table.”

Donations can be made online at newlifecharity.co.uk/essex.