Tia-Mae McCarthy is ten years old and for the entire time has been fed her meals through a tube because she refuses to eat anything.

Born three months prematurely, Tia had a large gap between her oesophagus and her stomach which was corrected by surgery and there was no physical reason why she couldn't eat or drink. Despite being shown to a host of medical experts including a specialist clinic in Austria where she was starved for three weeks, Tia refused to eat.

While on a trip to Spain Tia started showing interest in trying to eat and her mother Sue McCarthy, 44, offered her some yoghurt and was amazed when she accepted. When they returned to England and consulted a specialist in Birmingham, Sue was advised to continue to offer Tia yogurt and to gradually introduce her to new flavours.

Tia has now progressed from few spoonfuls of yogurt to Angel Delight, mousse, ice cream, tomato soup, custard and semolina. For breakfast Tia has two pots of yoghurt, half a can of soup for lunch, followed by custard or ice cream and the same again for dinner.

Sue is delighted with Tia's progress and is hoping to make her try rice pudding soon although she admits that she worries about the progress to lumpier food. "It's lovely to see her eating," she said. "We can go out for dinner now. I take a little pot of soup for her and she sits and eats with us. Then for pudding, she chooses ice cream or custard.

"I can't believe that just before Christmas, all she was eating was a few mouthfuls of yoghurt and now we have got this long list of things that she will sit down and happily eat. I never thought it would happen."

"I keep thinking of her future, when she's out and about, meeting friends, going to the pictures - normal stuff that children do.

"I don't want her to miss out on all that. I think it bothers me than it bothers her."

Eating is still not an experience that Tia enjoys and at night she is fed through a tube, something her mother hopes will change soon. "Because no-one knew what was wrong with Tia, they didn't know how to help us. I was left on my own, with no idea what to do. "We've now got little steps that are achievable and we feel much more positive about everything."