BASINGSTOKE teenager Kaitlin Lafferty is celebrating overcoming a serious illness to finally realise her dream of representing Great Britain at the World Tumbling Age Group Championships.

The 14-year-old from Kempshott looked to have her dreams dashed as a nine-year-old.

After two years of tumbling at Basingstoke Gymnastic Club, she had to give up the sport as she suffered from a rare form of a childhood stroke.

She has since been diagnosed with a genetic disorder that causes her blood to clot much easier than normal and as a result, she will be on blood thinning medication for the rest of her life.

Despite this, Lafferty, a pupil of Perins School in Alresford, returned to training two years after being forced to give up the sport she loves.

However, she had lost ground and found herself right at the bottom of the standings at the British Championships in 2012.

Despite this further setback, the teenager did not give up and battled on.

This year, she was rewarded as she won a bronze medal at the British Championships in Liverpool in the 13-14 girls age group.

This also meant that she was selected to represent Great Britain at the world championships, which will take place in Odense, Denmark, in December.

Her mother, Clare Lafferty, said: “Kaitlin is certainly an inspiration to us, but I hope that she can also inspire other children with illnesses or disabilities to never give up.

“She is living proof that if you want something enough, with dedication, hard work, determination and talent, you can achieve it.

She added: “We are especially grateful to her main neurology consultant, Professor Fenella Kirkham at Southampton General Hospital.

“She encouraged Kaitlin to continue to follow her dreams, despite her illness.

“She saw Kaitlin at her worst, but was always supportive of her continuation of tumbling.

“She was a great believer in every child forging their own destiny, even in the face of adversity.”

Lafferty was not the only tumbler to qualify for the Great Britain team.

Megan Kealy will join her in Denmark after she won the silver medal for girls aged 15-16.

Charlotte Gough (13-14 girls) finished in fourth place at the British Championship and has been selected to represent Great Britain at Loule, in Portugal, during the October half-term.

Maddie Gardiner (11-12 girls) is also going to Loule to represent her country.

India Eighteen was in the youngest half of her age group (9-10 girls) and came 10th.

Campbell Nugent and Alex Stanley came sixth and seventh respectively in the 13-14 boys, while Josh Matyear finished sixth in his category, the 15-16 boys.

Keira Blakey (15-16 girls) unfortunately fell in her first run and injured her shoulder.

This was after she had done a great job the week before at the trials for the World Age Group, finishing in fourth place overall.

Yasmin Hamilton-Giles (13-14 girls) finished ninth, but was in a very big age-group.