A 12-year-old elite ballet and tap dancer has been forced to give up her training after she was diagnosed with a rare disease – affecting just one in 10,000 kids.

Mia Oldroyd, who still has hopes of turning professional one day, now walks on crutches after doctors diagnosed her with Legg-Calve-Perthes disease last year.

The condition, also known as Perthes’ disease, causes the joints around the hip to lose blood supply, meaning the bones soften and then break down.

Lancashire Telegraph:

And while not much is currently known about the exceptionally rare disease, studies have found it’s most common among girls under the age of ten.

Mia, from the Ribble Valley, has been dancing since she was four years old and is part of an elite team - practicing over 11 types of dance, including jazz, acro and contemporary.

So when her mum, Amanda, found out about her shocking diagnosis, she started desperately looking for treatments that could let her pursue her chosen career.

She said: “Mia wants to be a professional dancer, so I knew we had to get her the right care.

"I watched lectures and read lots of papers to try and work out what treatment she would need.

Treatment for Perthes’ disease depends on the severity of the disease and may include physiotherapy, crutches, or plasters.

However, due to Mia’s relative old age, Amanda learned she would need surgery, where a metal frame - or extrenal fixator - would be fitted to her hip and leg for four months.

This would then relieve the pressure on her joints.

Lancashire Telegraph:

Amanda said she first looked at taking Mia to Portugal for the procedure, but later found a surgeon closer to home who could offer the highly specific surgery.

She said: “At first, I thought we’d have to visit a doctor I’d found in Portugal for the surgery until I put a question in a Perthes’ disease group on Facebook.

“I asked if anyone had got an external fixator fitted in England and another parent replied to recommend Mr James Fernandes, a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at Sheffield Children’s.”

She later found out that Mr Fernandes specialised in limb reconstruction at Sheffield Children’s.

And in November, Mia went to Sheffield to prepare for surgery the following month.

Amanda said: “Everybody came to see us. It was so organised. After the surgery, we stayed on Ward Two for six days.

“The staff at Sheffield Children’s couldn’t do enough and we felt like all the pressure and weight had been taken away.

“Even afterwards, I know I can give them a call if I have anything worrying me. Nothing is too much trouble for them.”

Mia has since been recovering from her operation, going to the hospital for check-ups, doing daily physiotherapy exercises and using crutches and a wheelchair to help her get around.

And with huge support from her teachers and fellow dancers at McLaren Dance Company, Mia has even been back at the studio adapting dance routines.

But at the moment, she can only use the upper half of her body while sitting on a chair.

Mia is due to have a second operation this week to remove the metal frame around her leg and hip, after which the healing process can take up to two years.

Amanda said: “A lot of people dismiss Mia’s dancing and don’t understand that it can be a career.

“But Mr Fernandes understood and listened to us – we showed him videos of Mia dancing and he showed us clips of people dancing in India after similar treatment.”