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Harmonie-Rose Allen, who’s well-known for playing a Thalidomide victim in the BBC drama called Call the Midwife, contracted a deadly strain of meningococcal septicemia when she was only ten months old. Now, Harmonie had to have all of her limbs removed due to the meningitis, SWNS reports.
When she was immediately taken to the hospital, doctors told Harmonie’s parents, Freya Hall and Ross Allen, that their little girl would only have a ten percent chance of surviving and living through the disease.
Fortunately, Harmonie was able to make it through and defeated the disease. However, the little baby lost her arms, legs, and the tip of her nose through the ordeal.
Harmonie made her acting debut in the sixth series of the show Call the Midwife in an episode that garnered 9. 2 million viewers.
A footage of Harmonie was released showing her determination to take her first steps with a special walker during her physiology session. This was the first time she was able to walk without the help of neither her mom nor her dad.
Harmonie, who’s from Bath, Somerset, fits perfectly in the walker that hugs her chest and her tummy. The device also helps with her balance.
Freya, 22 years old, wrote a post of Facebook that said: “She sure knows how to make a sad day a lot better. Today she had her first booster session with physio and she started to take steps with a walker. I cannot express how proud I am of her!
“She’s just into everything. She can climb up the stairs and get back down. She has adapted to everything really well. She just really wants to be independent.”
Harmonie also had to recover from broken collarbones due to constantly falling down when she would try to walk without the walker.
Freya said, “Her body is still quite flexed from where she was shuffling on her bottom. When she stands, she’s a little bit bent. She finds a way to do everything; she’s just amazing. She thinks she is invincible. She always finds her own way of doing things.
“All the other kids in nursery love her. She plays with all of them. They did ask her where her arms are at the start but now they just take it as it goes.”
Thalidomide was a drug back in the day that was given to pregnant women to allegedly stop sickness but was eventually found to be more harmful than helpful. It caused the underdevelopment of babies and serious defects.
