A YOUNG girl who spent more than six months in hospital has returned to school after almost a year’s absence.

Poppy Smith has been off school since September 21 last year after first having mild cold-like symptoms.

The six-year-old woke the next morning unable to swallow or move her arm and was then treated at Edinburgh’s Sick Kids Hospital after being diagnosed with the rare condition acute flaccid myelitis.

Last Wednesday, Poppy joined brother Alex and sister Jessica at Gullane Primary School.

Her mum Laura said: “It doesn’t seem like almost a year since this all began.

“Poppy doesn’t remember much of P2 as she was only there for a few weeks before she suddenly became ill.

“We certainly couldn’t have predicted what was going to happen.

“Although we knew quite quickly that Poppy was seriously ill, we didn’t know the impact it was going to have on her or how long she was going to be in hospital and out of school.”

The condition affects the nerves in the spinal cord – in Poppy’s case those supplying the speech, swallow and breathing muscles, as well as limbs.

The youngster spent several months in hospital but finally returned home earlier this summer.

Laura praised the “fantastic” school for all their efforts in helping Poppy settle back in.

She added: “As this is a rare condition, the medical team caring for Poppy weren’t able to give us timelines for the first few months.

“Life has changed in so many ways. I have given up work to care for Poppy. We have adapted the downstairs of our house so that Poppy has an accessible bedroom and bathroom.

“Leaving the house with Poppy takes a lot of preparation and planning! We also need to make sure that Poppy ideally has two people trained in her care with her at all times.

“Poppy is only attending school for the morning sessions at the moment. We hope that she’ll soon be able to manage full days but we don’t know how tiring that will be for her.

“There were mixed emotions when she went back to school. We were so happy that she was able to start the school year (P3) with her friends, but also worried as we hadn’t been away from her for any length of time and we were nervous about whether she would be tired or upset about being ‘different’.

“At school, Poppy has a support worker and a teaching assistant with her to support her health and education needs.

“She really enjoyed her first week and managed to keep up with her classmates.”

Kind-hearted members of the community have also done their bit to help fund specialised equipment. Fundraisers have ranged from cheese nights and busking to golf events and football festivals to collect more than £70,000.

Laura added: “It has been a real struggle to adapt to our ‘new normal’ and keep supporting her siblings (Alex and Jessica), but we’ve also found we appreciate our time together so much more now.

“Hearing Poppy’s voice after eight months, being discharged from the hospital, and seeing all three children go to school have been amazing moments.

“We continue to be overwhelmed with all the messages of support and fundraising.

“We keep a memory box and a scrapbook for Poppy so that she can see it all when she is older.

“We are using some of the Team Poppy funds to pay for specialist physiotherapy that will focus on strength and function in her arms.”

The family is having a special party to mark Poppy’s seventh birthday, a year since she was first diagnosed, and also to say thank you to everyone for their support over the past year.

Poppy has had a large hand in organising the party, which takes place at the Macdonald Marine Hotel in North Berwick on September 23.