A LITTLE girl with cerebral palsy visited firefighters from Risca as they prepare to hose down vehicles instead of fires tomorrow, to raise money for an operation which could help her walk for the very first time.

The firefighters will put on the charity car wash at Lidl’s car park off the main street in the town, and are hoping for a big turn-out to help raise the funds for Olivia Robinson, of Cross Keys.

Five-year-old Olivia has increased muscle tightness in her legs due to her condition and her parents are hoping to raise enough money for her to have a pioneering operation, which could remove some of the stiffness and allow her to walk unaided.

Since they started to fundraise at the end of last year, her parents have raised a massive £22,000 and they estimate that after June’s fundraising efforts have concluded this will be closer to £27,000.

They will be almost halfway to their goal of £65,000, which will pay for her to fly to America to have the Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) operation as well as aftercare as she recovers back home.

Speaking about the visit to the fire station, Olivia’s mum Beth Robinson, 30, said: “She loved it; she loved meeting everyone.

“She wanted to meet Fireman Sam, so one of the firefighters pretended to be Fireman Sam for her.

“She was trying on the helmets and playing with the torches. She sat up in the fire engine and they put the lights on.

“When we got there, they were doing drills so they had all the hose pipes out.

“She talked about it afterwards saying she wants to go back.

“Hopefully on Saturday they’ll let her sit in the engine again.

“She went into school and told everyone she’d visited the fire station.

Of the firefighters, she added: “The firefighters were fantastic with her. She was asking lots of questions and they were just brilliant.

“We were there for about 45 minutes and she came away with activity books to do.”

Mrs Robinson said she wanted to “thank the firefighters so much for supporting and helping Olivia reach her goal of hopefully walking one day.”

The firefighters will be washing cars from 11am tomorrow, asking for donations for Oliva’s ‘Footsteps 4 Liv’ fund as well as the Firefighters Charity.

Visit justgiving.com/footsteps-for-liv