Now aged 12, and an enthusiastic pupil at Killicomaine Junior High School, Sophie's only visible reminder of the major brain surgery she underwent for an AVM (Arteriovenous Malformation, or abnormal blood vessels in the brain) is a rather long scar skillfully hidden beneath her hair.

But she hasn't forgotten the kindness, nor the prayers, of the many people who supported her parents, David and Lesley, twin brother Joshua and older sister Katy all those years ago. That is why next Saturday (September 13) she is scrubbing up and putting on her apron to help out with a fund-raising Big Breakfast event at St. Columba's Parish Church. It has been organised by parishioners specifically to raise money for the Paul Ward in which Sophie recouperated in the neurology wing of the Royal Victoria Hospital for Sick Children.

The Big Breakfast will be a major fund-raiser for the ward and add to the £400-plus which David has already raised through a recent 87-mile 'Lap of the Lough' fund-raising cycle. "I try to do a cycle for charity at least once a year," said David, "and it was Sophie's idea this year to try to raise some money for the hospital where she underwent her two major operations - the first one as an emergency to remove a clot the size of a table -tennis ball which was only discovered after she walked into that lamppost and subsequently had a brain scan at Craigavon Area Hospital."

When the routine scan revealed the huge clot, Sophie was rushed to the Royal for an emergency operation to remove what was later described to her frantic parents as an AVM - malformation of blood vessels which occurs for no particular reason but which can be a virtual timb-bomb, leading to lethal or disabling brain hemorrhages and seizures.

"It was a huge shock for us, as one minute our healthy little daughter was just her normal self and the next we were being told to prepare ourselves for the worst as brain surgery to remove a clot is never without risks," said David, from Seagoe Drive in the town. "Apparently, the clot on the right side of her brain had affected her sight on the left and she just didn't see the lamppost. When she didn't seem to recover from simple concussion the way doctors felt she should, they took a scan - and a short time later they came running in to tell us Sophie needed to be transferred immediately to the Royal for emergency neuro-surgery."

Thankfully, the surgery went well, although the medical team were unable to tell if the source of the AVM had been removed. However, David and Lesley were told this would be checked on once their daughter's wound had settled down and healed.

It was a case of 'Wait and See' and life went on relatively normally for the family until a couple of years later further tests revealed the tangled blood vessels of the AVM were still there and liable to cause trouble.

"At that stage we had three options," said David, a management consultant with Parity Solutions in Belfast.