But brave Blossom has defied the odds and worked hard to take her first steps on the road to recovery. She still needs six hours of physio a day, but is back at home with mum Helen, 35, dad Richard and sister Olivia, 10, in Shrewsbury, Shrops. Richard, 35, said: "It has been a long, slow process. It is gruelling for a little girl but we have to keep it up."

Blossom was in intensive care at Birmingham's Children's Hospital for a month. Richard, a teacher, said: "Doctors said the right side of her brain looked like an 80-year-old stroke victim's. It was wiped out. Blossom hadn't made any significant movement for 10 days and the consultant told me she would probably never walk again. He said we should start thinking about modifying our home for wheelchair access. It was devastating. Our daughter had gone from being healthy and happy to bedridden and disabled in a matter of months."

Blossom had a CT scan at Shrewsbury Hospital before being transferred. Helen added: "Doctors thought it could be a virus, but an MRI scan confirmed it was a stroke. We couldn't believe it. You don't think a child of two will suffer a stroke."

Blossom had a month's intensive physio and walked with a zimmer frame. She is expected to make a full recovery, but may need surgery because a growth spurt means her left limbs are now 1cm shorter than her right ones. Doctors think the seizure, which affects one in every 400,000 children a year in the UK, was sparked by antibodies Blossom made during a bout of chicken pox two months earlier clogging arteries in her brain.

Dr Shakti Agrawal, who treated Blossom, said her recovery was "remarkable". He said: "She wasn't showing signs of walking again. Because of her age, her brain is more able to repair itself."

Source: Daily Mirror