These are some of the first heart-warming and hard-earned steps of little Gulshat Kadyprova that show she is on the road to recovery.

Oxford Mail readers helped raise almost half of the £15,000 needed for Gulshat, who was born without any hip sockets, to undergo life-changing surgery at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre.

Five weeks after her operation, the six-year-old, from Turkmenistan, is back on her feet, learning to walk properly and looking forward to being able to run for the first time.

She is attending the hospital, in Headington, weekly for physiotherapy and hydrotherapy, and has returned to a primary school in Cowley, Oxford.

But her mother Bahar is now facing one of the most difficult decisions of her life, after doctors discovered Gulshat also has scoliosis, a condition which causes the spine to bend towards the pelvis.

Before her operation to create her hip sockets, Miss Kadyrova thought Gulshat would be able to undergo further surgery to correct the spine without too many problems.

Supporters were preparing to launch another campaign to raise more money to pay for the operation, thought to cost about £20,000.

Miss Kadyrova, 31, an accountant who earns the equivalent of about £40 per month, has now been told that the procedure would not normally be carried until a child was eight or nine, when lungs were properly formed.

She must now consider whether to wait, return home with Gulshat to Turkmen- istan and risk her spine bending forward affecting internal organs and breathing or go ahead with the operation without her daughter's lungs being properly formed.

Amy Schondelmeyer, a Russian translator staying with Miss Kadyrova and Gulshat in Cowley, said: "The hip surgeon is very pleased with Gulshat's progress, but there are some very difficult decisions ahead.

"There are risks with both options and we need to find out a lot more before anything is decided."

She said doctors at the NOC were considering the possibility of treating the condition with a corset as a temporary measure until Gulshat's body had developed enough for the surgery.

She said: "That might be the way forward if we can find a doctor to continue and oversee the corset back in Turkmenistan."

The hip surgery that Gulshat needed was not available in Turkmenistan.

With donations from the US and UK, her mother Bahar was able to raise £6,000 towards the operation and bring her daughter to Oxford.

Miss Kadyrova was overwhelmed by the gener- osity of Oxford Mail readers and other donors who helped raise the rest of the money.

Details of the fund can be found on the webiste www.gulshatfund.org.uk