Bright-eyed Kateryna Pemberton is enjoying a new lease of life beside her new baby sister after undergoing a potentially life-saving operation.

The brave eight-year-old has been relishing her new-found freedom since a drastic operation to straighten her spine at Manchester's Pendlebury Hospital.

Kateryna was born with spinal muscular atrophy, which caused her backbone to curve as it grew, squashing internal organs and leaving her susceptible to pneumonia and other illnesses.

Since the operation Kateryna has been spending her time with her two-week old sister Amy. She has been learning the guitar and piano, how to use the computer and baking - all things she could not do before the operation.

Kateryna's father Brian of Ridgewood Close, Baildon, said: "Before she could not sit up unaided, she'd always be flopping over. She's a different girl since the operation. She can now sit up in the car straight. She's breathing more easily because the surgery has let her lungs expand and she is looking much more healthier."

He added: "I'm hopeful about her future prospects. Her life expectancy may have been increased by this operation because it reduces her chance of catching pneumonia."

She is now looking forward to going to Hoyle Court Primary next month for the first time since April.

Mr Pemberton was he was still angry after the operation was cancelled three times because of a shortage of intensive care beds and once because Kateryna fell ill.

He said: "I'm not happy that the operation was delayed for six months due to cancellations. It put a lot of extra stress on the family because my wife was seven months pregnant at the time."

While Kateryna is growing she will have to go back to hospital every sixth months to check if the rods in her back have been extended.