A 10-year-old Co Down girl who has faced multiple health battles in her short life, including heart surgery and wearing a back brace 23 hours a day, is pounding the pavements of her hometown to raise money for charity.
Calleigh Rodgers from Kilkeel lives with constant pain in her joints and walks with the aid of crutches, yet for almost a month she has been counting her steps towards 40 miles.
The young girl is aiming to walk 80,000 steps by the end of September to raise funds for Heartbeat NI, a local charity that has supported her through her health battles.
Her mother Laura last night said Calleigh "does everything with a smile and this is no different".
Calleigh suffers from Turners Syndrome, which is a female-only genetic disorder where one of the X chromosomes is missing. It can cause a variety of medical and developmental problems, including short height, failure of the ovaries to develop and heart defects.
A P7 pupil at Grange Primary School in Kilkeel, she suffers from congenital heart disease - undergoing her first heart operation at just five-weeks-old. She will require open heart surgery in the future.
Calleigh also faces a number of other daily health challenges, including joint pain in her knees, hips and ankles. She wears knee braces and uses crutches to aid her walking and help take the pain and pressure off her joints.
The young girl also wears a back brace 23 hours a day after she was diagnosed with scoliosis in 2018 when medics found a 45 degree angle in her spine. She will one day have to undergo back and knee surgery.
But putting her constant pains and health conditions to one side, the brave little girl is trying to give back to those who have helped her.
She is taking part in the 'Step-tember Challenge', which involves walking around 3,000 steps a day for the month of September.
"We have received a lot of help from Heartbeat NI and when Calleigh heard us talk about their Step-tember Challenge, she said she wanted to do it," said her mother.
"When she asked her daddy and me could she take part, we were shocked because she hates walking but we were also very proud of her. She just said 'it's for charity, I want to do it for all they have done for us'.
"She plans to do around 80,000 steps for the month of September by going for a walk every every evening to get her steps up.
"That's about 3,000 steps a day, which might not sound much for me and you, but for Calleigh it's a lot.
"She suffers from a lot of joint pain to her knees, hips and ankles and her knee caps can dislocate so easily.
"But she's determined to do it, she puts on her fitness tracker to count all her steps when she gets to the front door, she won't put on it earlier as she wants to prove she's done the steps on each walk.
"She set out to raise £300 and she's already raised over £2,000, which is fantastic."
Ms Rodgers said while it is difficult "seeing Calleigh in so much pain every day", their daughter "just smiles and gets on with it".
"It’s definitely not nice seeing your daughter in pain on a daily basis, but she always has a smile on her face," she said.
"And we couldn’t be more proud of the beautiful young girl she is.
"Anyone who knows Calleigh knows that this is definitely a challenge for her and some days she might not be able to do much depending on her joint pain but she’s determined to give it a good go.
"She does everything with a smile and this is no different, she tries so hard at everything. She's such a good little girl."
To support Calleigh's 'Step-tember Challenge', please visit justgiving.com/fundraising/laura-rodgers6.
