Lauren goes on to West End success

The 10 year old was diagnosed with spina bifida as a baby but defied the odds to grow into a talented performer who loves to sing and dance.

Not only that, but she has raised many thousands of pounds for Sasbah, the spina bifida charity.

Next month Lauren will achieve another first when she performs in the West End of London at the Leicester Square Theatre in The Sound Of Musicals.

She will be taking part in a Joseph megamix, which highlights songs from Joseph And the Technicolour Dreamcoat, and the Michael Jackson tribute, Thriller.

After that she will be performing closer to home when she appears in the White Rock pantomime Aladdin, which will star Leslie Grantham and Neil Brennan, from December 16.

The auditions took place back in June, and Lauren had to sing, dance tap and display grade 4 ballet skills to be one of the lucky children chosen to take part in this Christmas classic.

Lauren, from Whychurst Gardens, has already appeared in a number of professional productions, including Snow White at Canterbury last year, and she is a pupil at Netherfield primary school.

Lauren still has plenty of ambition left - she hopes when she is an adult to cycle around the world, have a recording contract, and bungee jump off in Brazil.

Proud mum Linda says these days Lauren is more into singing than dancing, but she and husband Lionel are relaxed and will wait to see which path Lauren will take, all the time supporting her in her desire to perform, and taking her up to London every week for dance classes at the famous Pineapple studios in Covent Garden, as well as singing lessons at the Italia Conti school.

It's a long way from when she was born at the Conquest, x-rayed the next day and sent to Guys Hospital in London from an MRI scan at just six weeks old.

Linda still cannot believe how far her daughter has come, from the early diagnosis of spina bifida and the fears that followed, and commented: "I have to pinch myself sometimes when I think - how is this possible? It's unbelieveable that we could have been in that awful place because now, obviously she has something wrong with her, but it is like she hasn't because she just does it all."

"I can do handstands and cartwheels and everything," added Lauren.

"It was all -wait and see," said Linda.

"And that's all we are doing - it's all we have ever done, and all we will ever do until she is at least 18. They said she might walk, she might never walk, she might walk with problems. they couldn't tell us - but the reason they couldn't tell us was she was always so well, and yet she had this problem."

Lauren is particularly proud of her fundraising activities for Sasbah - last year she took part in a sponsored glide and achieved in total over 30,000.