A TORFAEN family have spoken of their joy after a charity funded a wheelchair for their brave teenager daughter - with a little help from a former Wales rugby captain.

It also means donated funds for Tia Leigh can now go towards a prosthetic leg instead.

The 13-year-old braved an operation to have her leg amputated last month, after being born with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) - a condition which causes thousands of benign tumours to grow along her nerves.

But her family recently received a call from the charity Princes Gate Trust who said they would be funding a wheelchair for Tia - after Ryan Jones sent a message onto the charity's board of directors.

Tia’s aunty, Rachael Leigh, said that funds had already been raised for the wheelchair on a fundraising page - but thanks to charity's kind gesture, online donations of £9,666 will now go towards a prosthetic leg and other support aids.

She said: “Tia is recovering remarkably well and when we heard about the donation we were shocked and we are so grateful.”

She said that the donation came about after Tia's story was tweeted to the Welsh rugby team. It was then that Grand Slam winner Jones became involved.

The power assisted wheelchair will help Tia when she isn't enough to propel herself.

The family are holding a fun day at the Six In Hand pub, Croesyceiliog, on September 5, as they continue fundraising for the prosthetic leg.

The Northville teenage took the decision to have the amputation as it was the only option to eradicate cancer in her leg.

When Tia was 15 months old she went blind in her right eye due to a tumour called optic nerve glioma growing on her optic nerve.

At aged nine, another tumour grew on Tia’s left optic nerve, which she has three monthly eye checks and MRI scans for. Luckily, her left eye sight has not been affected.

She has had three operations in seven years on her right leg to correct a 7cm leg length discrepancy, which works for a short time before the staples need to be replaced.

The brave youngster has thousands of benign tumours in total.

One of the tumours turned malignant and this was removed in a 10cm mass from her right leg and buttocks in November 2014.

But she was dealt another big blow when the cancer returned just behind her right knee.

To donate to her cause visit www.gofundme.com/ymarug