A GIRL who broke her back after falling 18ft out of a tree is walking again after undergoing gruelling surgery.

Chloe Hooper, 12, of Rayleigh, shattered a vertebra and pushed another against her spinal column, risking paralysis, after a branch snapped under her at Scout camp.

But the brave Fitzwimarc School pupil, who was unable to walk after the fall, has completely recovered after specialists at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital pieced her broken spine back together.

Mum Julia, 45, sobbing as she recounted the horrific accident, said: “When she sat up for the first time after the operation, I just thought: ‘We are alright, it’s going to be fine.’ “Whatever happens, now she is so strong.”

Dad, Simon, said: “We are finding it difficult to find the words to thank surgeon Robert Lee and his colleagues. We will be forever thankful to them.

“One day she will walk down the church aisle or run in the school sports day and we’re so hopeful of this because of the expert team who cared for our daughter. “We never dreamed that Chloe would make a full recovery.”

Chloe was acting as lookout in the tree at Belchamps Scout Activity Centre, Hawkwell, as fellow female Scouts hid their male colleagues’ things in a prank.

The branch reached out past the tree’s foliage and there was nothing to break her fall. Her friends found her lying in a ditch complaining her legs felt “funny”.

Scout leaders immediately called Mr Hooper, who is a paramedic, six minutes away in Helena Road, believing he could help faster than an ambulance from Southend.

Mr Hooper arrived and assessed his daughter, a member of 5th Hadleigh Scout Group, until an ambulance crew arrived and took her to Southend Hospital.

Medics in Southend quickly realised Chloe’s injuries were beyond their expertise and called around hospitals to locate specialists, but no-one was available as it was a Sunday, so she had to stay overnight.

Despite breaking her back and being strapped into a bed for 25 hours unable to drink water ahead of possible surgery, the fearless Scout made no fuss.

Her proud mother, a teacher at Thundersley Primary School, said: “She was saying: ‘I don’t mind.’” At the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital the next day Chloe’s parents’ world fell apart as Mr Lee warned them the operation could leave their daughter paralysed.

Tearful Mrs Hooper said: “The thought went through my head that this is what happens to other people. “We are going to have to get on with it whatever happens. “I kept thinking: ‘She’s still alive. It could have been worse if she had landed on her neck.

She wouldn’t be here at all.” But the operation was a complete success and Chloe was left with nothing but a scar to show for her ordeal. Chloe and her family are set to become charity advocates for the RNOH’s Redevelopment Charity Appeal which aims to raise £15million to fund vital additional facilities and equipment for the RNOH.

A fortnight after leaving hospital Chloe took part in the charity’s sponsored Buttercup Walk and spoke about her experience in front of Princess Eugenie at the Savoy Hotel, London, a few weeks later. For more details on the appeal or to make a donation visit www.rnohcharity.org