A Bradford youngster with a rare genetic condition is enduring painful surgery to help achieve her dream of being as tall as her 21-year-old sister.

Angela Windle, of Jesmond Avenue, Heaton, has hydro-achondroplasia - a dwarfing disease that means her legs and her arms are unusually small.

The nine year-old - who two years ago was only two-and-a-half feet tall - has grown six and a half centimetres since a leg strengthening procedure was performed by surgeons at Sheffield Children's Hospital earlier this year.

"I want to be as tall as my older sister Georgina who is five feet two and then I will be happy," said Angela.

The youngster who dreams of meeting Sporty Spice Mel C, of the Spice girls, was diagnosed with the condition as a baby.

Her mother Linda, 46, said: "She was six-months-old and I noticed that her body was not in proportion and took her to the hospital and they told me that she had this rare condition. But she has coped tremendously and I am very proud of her," she said.

Angela underwent the first of six operations in February. Surgeons inserted metal pins into the bone below both her knees during the five-hour procedure. The attachments rip open the bone - causing it to stretch and grow.

The pins are twisted a millimetre every day for two months with the aid of a key.

They are held in place by a frame which doctors hope to remove by December 8, giving Angela the freedom to pursue many of her favourite activities including swimming, riding her bike and karate.

Angela who has four sisters, will now have a year's rest before the operation is repeated on her thighs and arms. She can walk, but uses a wheelchair to get around. She said: "It does get frustrating sometimes not always being able to do the things when I want, but the doctors say when I finish growing I should be about 5ft 2inches - that's as big as my older sister Georgina."

And Georgina of Bradford Moor, who is a temporary worker at Shipley firm Lexicon, repaid the compliment. "I hope my sister gets to be as tall as me," she said.

Jonathan Pagdin, a specialist nurse at Sheffield Children's hospital, said surgeons were delighted with Angela's progress.

"The first operation was quite painful, but it looks more gruesome than it really is," he said.

"She did have five other operations but they were just to stabilise the work completed by surgeons and also included a bone graft, where we took bone from her hip and placed it in her leg.

"Hopefully next month the attachments will come off and she will begin to start walking freely again as the frames are rather bulky," he said.

Honor Rawlings, of the Restricted Growth Association, said there is still not enough information known about the condition.

She said: "We know it is a genetic disease, but it is not hereditary. There are no official figures on how many people have the condition, but we do know that the gene that is responsible for hydro-achondroplasia was discovered in 1994.

For more details of the Restricted Growth Association which is based in Leicester call (0116) 247 8913.

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