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Daily Record
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Kelly Williams & Chloe Burrell

Mum's fury after vile Facebook hackers steal disabled daughter's fundraising page

A family have been left furious and "absolutely devastated" after a Facebook page detailing their disabled daughter's journey was taken over by hackers.

Clare and Mark Smith set up Super Sofia's Story during lockdown to inspire other parents, fundraise and document their child's, five, progress after being diagnosed with the condition cerebral palsy at the age of two.

Clare said that Sofia loved hearing the encouragement from people all over the globe and many made donations towards her treatment, North Wales Live reports.

However the mum, from Flintshire, said that she was "disheartened" and "distraught" when she discovered that she and Mark had had their admin rights removed and can no longer take control of the page, which has over 5,500 followers.

Despite their best efforts, they have so far been unable to get Facebook to take action.

Sofia was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when she was aged two (UGC)

Clare said: "It's an absolute nightmare, and I can't get any help from Facebook, it's awful.

"I set up the page in July 2020, really to help me as we had to shield due to coronavirus and Sofia learned to walk in lockdown.

"I wanted to inspire other people because I couldn't really find anything like that when I got Sofia's diagnosis.

"Because Sofia had recently had surgery, we needed to fundraise for ongoing therapy so we used it to try and raise money too.

"It was going really well until I got a notification saying the account was at risk of being blocked and that I needed to log in.

"I stupidly logged in not thinking anyone could hack a Facebook notification, but then I got an email saying 'you've been removed as admin' and my husband was removed as well.

Sofia enjoyed hearing encouraging messages posted on her Facebook page (UGC)

"They also took off all our email addresses and there was no help from Facebook whatsoever."

Clare added: "When you look at the admin now, it's people in Indonesia and Serbia. I can still get on the page, but I have no control over it whatsoever.

"I'm just stuck, I've tried Googling what to do but because I've been removed as admin, I can't report it.

"I'm scared because it's got personal information about my daughter and other families in the messages and I'm also worried the hackers could access bank details of people who have donated, you just don't know."

Sofia was born at 24 weeks and six days with her identical twin Sienna weighing just 760 grams.

Sofia was born at 24 weeks and six days (UGC)

The girls were critically ill after contracting sepsis and sadly, Sienna died just hours after birth.

Sofia spent 102 days in hospital where an MRI scan revealed damage to the right side of her brain.

Doctors told Clare and Mark that their daughter may never walk or talk as a result and at the age of two, she was diagnosed with diplegic cerebral palsy, which causes muscle stiffness.

But after having physiotherapy from six months old, the youngster proved medics wrong after learning to hit all her movement milestones.

She was initially given a walker to help her move more independently, but thanks to the tireless efforts of the family during lockdown, the schoolgirl was able to walk unassisted - and even learned to jump.

Sofia with her sister, Meghan (UGC)

Clare described being able to document Sofia's progress on Facebook as "rewarding" and would receive messages from other families around the world telling her Sofia's determination had inspired them.

Clare, who also has a two-year-old daughter called Meghan, added: "Sofia’s life is not alike a typical child. It involves countless hospital appointments and daily physio that started at seven months old but this has been key to help her brain rewire around the damage...

"But Sofia is the most determined, hardworking little fighter.

"I'm devastated because we had such a lovely support network on the Facebook page and people cheering Sofia on would really help motivate her.

"The thought of having to start up a new one is just soul destroying.

"We just want the page back so we can carry on sharing her inspirational journey."

Facebook has been asked to comment.

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