Dad’s appeal for ‘en pointe’ prosthetic for ballerina daughter goes viral

14 January 2021, 12:31 | Updated: 14 January 2021, 13:33

Christopher Hope put out an appeal for his ballet dancer daughter, who lost her leg in an accident 13 years ago, and received an overwhelming response on social media.

A dad’s appeal for an ‘en pointe’ prosthetic foot for his amputee daughter has gone viral on Twitter, with more than 240 people responding to the request.

Christopher Hope wants to find a new prosthetic leg for his 15-year-old daughter, Pollyanna, that will allow her to dance gracefully on the tips of her toes.

The young ballet dancer lost her leg in an accident 13 years ago and now performs on a running blade. By getting a leg with a foot fixed in the pointe position, Pollyanna would be able to go en pointe on both legs.

Christopher put out the plea on Monday (11 January) with a video of his daughter pirouetting, asking the platform: “Can anyone help? Can you make our 15yo amputee daughter a prosthetic leg with the foot fixed in the pointe shape so she can do pointe work on it?”

His post has since been retweeted over 2,500 times, with multiple suggestions of professionals who might be able to help Pollyanna, alongside hundreds of heartwarming messages of support.

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Pollyanna lost her right leg below the knee in 2007, the BBC reports, when she was just a toddler. A bus mounted the pavement in Mortlake, south London, seriously injuring Pollyanna and her mother, Sarah. Her grandmother died in the accident.

Talking about the reaction to his appeal, Christopher said: “Social media gets quite a bad rep, [but the reaction] is an indication that there are actually really nice people out there who want to help.

“It’s struck a chord which is really nice.”

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Pollyanna, who has been dancing since she was four, previously took part in the TV show The Big Life Fix, a programme which provided life-changing solutions for people in need.

Inventor and engineer Yusuf Muhammad designed a foot that allowed the ballerina to dance on demi-pointe.

But the demi-pointe foot she currently has is “quite clunky and heavy”, her father told the BBC. Now, the teenager wants to be able go up en pointe on both of her legs.

And with the help of the wonderful people of the Internet, here’s hoping she can...