A TWO-year-old girl faces a battle to walk after a meningitis infection forced doctors to amputate her right foot and all her toes.

Chantelle Pringle fought back from the brink after meningococcal meningitis put her in intensive care.

The deadly infection spread to her hands and feet, poisoning the tissue and doctors were forced to operate to save her life.

Now the toddler, who spent two months in hospital following a series of operations, is recovering at home.

Chantelle fell ill on November 17 at her home in Stockley Road, Barmston, Washington.

Her mother, Keeley Grotz, 24, recognised the symptoms of meningitis and she was taken to Sunderland Royal Hospital before being transferred to Newcastle General.

Ms Grotz said: "I didn't know anything about septicaemia. It wasn't until they put her on a life support machine that they told us. Three hours later, she was at Newcastle General. They told me if I had waited for an emergency doctor to come, she would have died."

Chantelle spent eight days in intensive care before Ms Grotz and her partner, Alan Pringle, 25, were told she would face amputation. She underwent the operation at Newcastle RVI on December 6.

In a two-hour operation, surgeons removed her right foot and all five toes from her left.

Her family remained at her bedside until she was allowed home on December 22.

Ms Grotz said: "Over the last week, she has come from nowhere. When she keeps standing up, she can't understand why her legs keep giving way, but she is getting back to normal."

Chantelle is waiting for an appointment at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital to have an artificial foot fitted.