Cork girl, 9, with dwarfism undergoes limb-lengthening surgery

The mother of a young girl who is undergoing a procedure to make her limbs longer has said she just wants her child to have a normal life.

Keeva Walsh from Cork was born with Achondroplasia, more commonly known as dwarfism. She's now nine years old and measures 103cm, the average height of a four-year-old. Speaking on the Ryan Tubridy Show on RTÉ Radio One this morning, Keeva's mum Lisa admitted that she had "the darkest thoughts" when her daughter was first born. "We said oh my god, what kind of life will she have?," Lisa told host Ryan. "When I heard the words I instantly thought of the worst things like that you could possibly think of, that she was never going to fit in, she'd be mocked, she'd be sneered at." Keeva underwent surgery last Wednesday to begin the process of lengthening her legs. Lisa explained that they had first learned of the procedure two years ago. Initially Keeva was reluctant, telling her mum that the idea of it scared her. But she thought about it for a year and one day came home from school and told Lisa; "I am so sick of it. I just don't want to be small anymore."

Lisa continued; "So we talked about it for six months before we went to see (our surgeon) Conor again and she never said no again."

Keeva now has a magnetic rod system in her thigh and will have her thighs lengthened by a millimeter a day over the next 50 days. It's hoped that she will gain an extra 4 or 5 inches of length in her thighs. She's due to undergo a procedure to start work on her lower leg in February. Lisa admitted that the whole process has been emotional for the family.

"At the moment everything is up in the air. Keeva was crying the other night saying she wants her old body back. "It's really hard. It's all these emotions rolled into one - have I made the right decision? "You just want the best for your child. I know the long term of this will be amazing."

Keeva has started a Facebook page, My Small Wonder, to share her story - check it out here.