MY GIRL'S 12st LEG!

Verenice Sanmiguel, 40, just wants her daughter to live the best and most fulfilling life that she can

- FRANCES LEATE, LUCY LAING

Wearing a silver crown and a gorgeous pink gown, my daughter Jasmine, 14, looked every inch a proper little princess. 'What do you think Mum?' she asked, her face beaming. 'Just perfect,' I replied, and I meant it. The truth was, I never thought I'd see the day that Jasmine and I went dress shopping for her 15th birthday party, and her genuinely excited to dress up and be the centre of attention. But here we were in February this year, doing just that and it made me emotional to see her so happy. Not long ago, a gown like this would have hidden the one thing that always seemed to hold Jasmine back. But now, that thing has gone, and there's no stopping my girl.

Jasmine had been born perfectly healthy in December 2011, but aged two, I was getting her dressed one day and I noticed her little toes had started to swell and separate. 'That's odd,' I said to her dad Manuel, now 52, who agreed. Yet when we took her to hospital, doctors didn't think there was anything wrong, even when she started to walk with a limp.

As the months went on, her foot, and then leg, seemed to grow with every inch that she did, until it looked out of proportion with the rest of her body. 'Something isn't right,' I told doctors, demanding answers. Finally, they took me seriously, but an MRI scan and blood tests failed to show anything.

Over the next few years, Jasmine was referred for test after test, meanwhile her leg just continued to grow. At that point she wasn't in pain with it, but of course Jasmine found it frustrating. With six older brothers and sisters, she was desperate to be like them, to chase them around the house and garden, but her leg was so big it got in the way.