WHEN a Hampshire mum saw her daughter perform in her first cheerleading routine, she sobbed and sobbed.

For Sally Ridout, 34, it was a moment she thought she would never see - because her daughter, eight-year-old Hannah and now a flyer with Liberty Pride Cheerleaders, is an amputee.

The active lifestyle Hannah now leads is all down to a Daily Echo campaign four years ago, which raised £12,000 to buy her a natural-looking artificial leg.

Sally, from Lordshill, Southampton, said: "The fundraising just changed everything. I just want everyone to see what she can do now when four years ago she couldn't do anything.

"I just want to thank everyone so much."

Hannah, who has different shaped artificial legs fitted regularly to keep up with her growth spurts, can ride a bike, walk, run, crawl - and cheerlead.

"It's good," said Hannah. "I like the people and I'm a flyer which means they throw me in the air."

Sally heaped praise on the Millbrook club in which Hannah seems to have found her niche since she joined two months ago.

"If Hannah can't manage something they work around it," she said.

"But she stretches, jumps, touches her toes. She has to have a go at everything.

"People have been surprised she can do it. They don't associate amputees with being active but there's no reason why not."

Hannah had her leg amputated soon after she was born and for years struggled with ill-fitting artificial limbs.