Amputee schoolgirl defies all odds to dance ballet en pointe

Watching her pirouette across the dance floor, there’s no doubt that Pollyanna Hope could fulfil her dream one day of touring with a company like the English National Ballet.

Graceful and beautiful, this 16-year-old schoolgirl who is studying for her A-Levels has been dancing since the age of seven and is now the star and narrator of a new Toyota advert celebrating ‘movement for all’ which airs on screen this week.

Her poise and confidence are even more remarkable because viewers will notice that her right leg – on which she balances faultlessly – is a prosthetic.

Pollyanna, lost her leg in an horrific bus crash in south west London in April 2007, when she was only two years old. Her mother Sarah lost a large part of her leg and tragically, Sarah's mother Elizabeth was killed.

But the despite more than 14 surgeries and going through at least 25 prosthetic legs in her young life, Pollyanna, from Harpenden, Herts, is determined that her life-changing injuries will have no impact on her career.

"Asking me what dancing with only one leg is like, is like asking a two-legged person what it’s like dancing with two legs – I really couldn’t say if it’s different because it’s all I’ve ever known," she says.

Her inspiration to be a dancer came from a desire to be able to lead a normal life – just like her peers. "I like being graceful and wanted to do the same things as my friends," she says.

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But there have been difficulties and having to dance on one leg, with her prosthetic, leaves her very tired. "The physical strain of it leaves me exhausted - but it always feels rewarding," she says. "What I love about dance is that I’m always striving to do better, always trying to get things right. I remember joining a baby ballet class when I was little and thinking I looked pretty as a swan," she says.

She adds: "I suppose there are some challenges, such as the leg that I use en pointe does not bend at the ankle, but it simply means I have to adapt.

"I’ve never had any negative reaction from anyone I’ve danced with, in fact everyone has been so encouraging. I definitely want to go into dance full-time as a professional."

Pollyanna's expectations are clear - she wants to "flourish and be happy - and keep dancing and improving".

Already, she has made advances in the world of dance entirely on her own merits, winning places at the London Contemporary Dance School in September 2018, and the English National Ballet Youth Company in September 2021.

Her dancing has become even more advanced after a private company called Dorset Orthopaedic made a special en pointe ballet prosthesis, which she describes as 'quite cool'.

She adds: "I would love to go on to train full time in dance and then hopefully join a ballet or contemporary company."

Her advice to others is: "Go for it - there is no limit but what you think you can achieve. If you believe in yourself all else will follow."

But it is not only Pollyanna who has turned the dreadful accident into something more positive. In the years after the crash, Sarah and her sister Victoria, both 49, established a charity in their mother's memory - Elizabeth's Legacy of Hope - which has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for child amputees in parts of India and Africa.

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Since May 2011 Elizabeth's Legacy of Hope has provided prosthetic support to around 300 children in Sierra Leone, Liberia and India.

"I was inspired to campaign for activity blades so children like Pollyanna can be active and play with their friends," she says. "Previously, prosthetic legs which were funded by the NHS only helped amputees to walk, not run."

Hundreds of child amputees now have activity blades funded by the NHS as a result of Sarah's work and her campaigning directly resulted in the Government providing an extra £3 million for children’s activity prosthetic blades, so child amputees can lead more active lives.

Sarah, who was awarded an MBE for her campaigning work at the Queen's New Year's honours in 2021, also worked with Transport for London to ensure London bus drivers were trained to realise how simple mistakes could result in awful carnage. She appears in several safety videos now shown to all bus drivers.

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Sarah says today that she is thankful that her daughter has no recollection of the dreadful day that changed her – and her family’s – life forever. And she is justifiably proud that her Pollyanna takes it "all in her stride".

"We’re all so proud not only of my mother’s legacy but of Pollyanna and our other children too. Watching Pollyanna on this advert will be very exciting. She’s been so grown up and mature about it but I’ve been wanting to tell everyone! We can’t wait to see it."