A TEENAGE dancer who was born with one arm has been fitted with a prosthetic limb thanks to her performing arts group and local school.

Shannon Hart is enjoying a new lease of life since being fitted with the arm.

The 15-year-old, from Stockton, is a member of Stagecoach Yarm and Darlington, which helped to raise £5,000 needed for the limb.

All profits from the stage school’s performances of Billy Elliot were donated, and the fund was increased by a gift from her school, Blakeston Community Sports College, in Stockton.

The Arms for Angels fund was set up last December following a conversation between Shannon and Stagecoach principal Trudy Hindmarsh.

“One day she just came up to me and said ‘I wish I could afford one of those good arms’,” Mrs Hindmarsh said.

“I then started talking to her mum, who was saving to buy her one when she had stopped growing. I told her to use the money to buy a new one now and we will replace the fund.”

Shannon, who has been at Stagecoach for four years, was born with the disability and had always had trouble coping with the NHS’s replacement limb.

She said: “I was born like this which has made things difficult, particularly as I’ve always had an interest in activities like dancing.”

Shannon had her new arm fitted in Leeds four months ago.

She said: “It is very heavy and hard to handle, and I’m having to have physio at the moment, but I’ve noticed a big difference. The NHS ones weren’t strong enough, fingers were always snapping off and they got dirty very easily.”

Mrs Hindmarsh praised Shannon for her attitude throughout.

“It’s testament to Shannon that half the people in her school don’t even know she has a prosthetic arm,” she said. “She doesn’t ever draw attention to it, just getting on with life and making the best of it.”

Arms for Angels is one of many funds and charities that Stagecoach regularly supports.

The school contributes money from performances and organises fundraising events throughout the calendar year.