WHEN nine-year-old Alex Skabara was diagnosed with chronic arthritis seven years ago, it was feared she would be confined to a wheelchair facing the prospect of regular surgery.

But she has defied the odds to become a sporting champion in karate, swimming and running. And at the weekend she topped all that by winning the 60-metre sprint at a Primary School Race event.

Alex, of Whittingham Drive, Ramsbottom, was diagnosed with arthritis at the age of 18 months after parents, Pete and Joanne, noticed she would stop walking for short periods in the mornings.

As it continued to get worse, they took her back to the doctor. He referred her to Sheffield's Children Hospital where she was diagnosed with juvenile chronic arthritis.

Her family, who were living in Sheffield at the time, were warned she could eventually need a wheelchair. Pete said: "I was told she could be wheelchair-bound and need her joints replaced every few years as she got older. Her fingers and toes, wrists and knees were already swelling up."

Fortunately, Alex was prescribed the anti-inflammatory drug methotrexate and became one of the few children to react so positively she is now able to live her life like any other nine-year-old.

The Holcombe Brook Primary School pupil triumphed at the Primary School Races held in Bury, winning the 60 metre sprint for her age group, competing against pupils from 23 schools across the borough.

Alex also has a purple belt in karate and attends the Rising Sun Karate club at Ramsbottom Civic Hall every week with her dad and three sisters, Jessica (11), and five-year-old twins Nadia and Rowen.

She is also busy practising for a swimming endurance test to complete as many lengths as possible in 15 minutes for a gold medal. Pete said: "She is living her life like a normal nine-year-old girl."