little star
GMB fans left ‘in floods of tears’ as Piers and Susanna give meningitis survivor Harmonie-Rose Christmas presents
GOOD Morning Britain fans were left in "floods of tears" today as Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid gave a five-year-old meningitis survivor Christmas presents.
Harmonie-Rose Allen lost all four limbs at 11 months old, but she showed off her walking skills with her purple prosthetic legs today, leaving presenter Piers, 54, feeling very emotional.
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Proud mum Freya Hall revealed her daughter is helping to raise money for her local school by running a colour run, and told GMB: "She has a fighting spirit."
Piers was completely won over by brave Harmonie-Rose, calling her his "number one favourite guest".
TV star Lizzy Cundy had been watching the segment from home and wrote on Twitter: "Woke up to the most gorgeous, beautiful little girl Harmony Rose with @piersmorgan @susannareid100 on @GMB .. brought tears to my eyes!"
Hundreds of others agreed, with one saying: "Just watching that beautiful little girl harmony rose today brought me to tears it’s moments like this we all need to take a long hard look at ourselves and where we can improve."
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And another wrote: "Absolutely love the softer side to @piersmorgan"
Harmonie-Rose is a quadruple amputee who lost all four limbs to meningitis aged 11 months but is not letting her disability hold her back.
Proud mum Freya Hall said: “She finds her own way of doing things and is now learning how to do a backwards roll.”
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Harmonie, from Bath, has taken up gymnastics and learnt to do a cartwheel despite teachers being worried she’d struggle to pick the sport up.
Miss Hall and her partner Ross Allen, 25, from Bath, Somerset, had watched Harmonie take her first steps just ten days before she fell ill with the deadly meningitis B virus in 2014.
Doctors told them there was just a ten per cent chance of survival and Harmonie's was one of the worst cases of the killer bug they had ever seen.
Symptoms of meningitis
Meningitis can affect anyone but it's most common in babies, teens and young adults.
It's often mistaken for being flu and in some cases, people can seem hungover.
But the longer you leave it, the more at risk you become of things like blood poisoning - which can be fatal.
Symptoms of meningitis develop suddenly and can include:
- a high temperature (fever) of 38C or above
- being sick
- a headache
- a rash that does not fade when a glass is rolled over it (but this will not always develop)
- a stiff neck
- a dislike of bright lights
- drowsiness or unresponsiveness
- fits (seizures)
You need to seek medical help ASAP.
Even when people do survive meningitis, it can leave them with life-long issues such as hearing or vision loss, epilepsy, amputations and memory problems.
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Since then the tot has had to re-learn how to feed herself, play and get around.
She was even given a doll with prosthetic arms and legs, just like her.
In March she completed a half marathon – she tackled the 13.1-mile course with a seven-person support team, including two of her teachers and family, who took it in turns to push her special running chair
But Harmonie-Rose was determined to cross the finish line all on her own and was cheered on by the thousands of spectators who had lined the route around Bath city centre as she completed the course in just over three hours.
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