A teenager who lost both her hands to meningitis has defied the odds by learning to play the piano.
Tilly Lockey, 14, was determined to prove a physiotherapist wrong after she said she would never master it.
Tilly said she also wanted to inspire others to achieve their own “impossible” dreams.
Mum Sarah was so angry at the physiotherapist’s comment, she went on eBay and bought a piano.
But the talented teenager was always too busy to explore her musical side – until the Covid-19 lockdown.
Now the schoolgirl uses a prosthetic – known as “the rake”, as it has prongs held together with tape. She plays basic three-note chords with that and her “elbow” to play single notes.
Tilly, of Consett, County Durham, said: “Everyone will say that playing the piano with no hands is impossible.
“Well I’m doing it. I found my own way and that’s what I want people to know – that they can find their own way, too.
"People shouldn’t feel like their disability limits their potential. We can all achieve great things.”
Tilly contracted meningococcal septicaemia when she was just 15 months old.
She was given a zero per cent chance of survival, but managed to beat the killer disease.
Sarah, 41, said: “Tilly can achieve anything she wants if she sets her mind to it.”
