LEAH THOMAS is a special girl - and after a tragic year, the Argus is bringing her some Christmas joy.

Leah, (pictured) now 14, lost her mum in November, after 12 years of being her 'eyes'. Mum Tracey French was already losing her sight as a combined result of diabetes and her pregnancy when Leah was born.

By the time Leah was three-months-old, her mother was completely blind. And in the same year, Tracey had to battle against kidney failure - needing dialysis every day before a successful transplant in January 1989.

But she never let her medical problems get the better of her, flying a light aircraft for charity and taking up Tae Kwon Do alongside her daughters.

Tracey, aged 37, died of pneumonia on November 7 - just weeks after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

And Leah, of Lime Close, Pill, Newport, has now become one of the special children given an early present in the Argus' annual Christmas toy giveaway.

She was nominated by her best friends, Daniella Richards and Stacy Maund. Daniella wrote: "Ever since Leah was two years old she was her mother's eyes. "She looked after her mother for many years and when her brother and sister were born she became a second mother to them, bringing them up as well as she could.

"On November 7 this year her beloved mother died in her sleep. Leah has grown through these troubling times, always smiling and never dwelling on her own problems."

Leah said: "My mum was a diabetic and even when I was two when she went hypoglycemic I would get on my high chair, get in the fridge and shove a bit of chocolate in her mouth.

"When she died I had to tell my sister Taima that mum was in a better place, watching us. "At the funeral I read a poem Taima wrote and everyone said I brought back memories of my mum."

Another special girl is four-year-old Nia Parry, of George Street, Newport, who helped out when her aunt Lucy had an epileptic fit.

Grandmother Tricia Fallon said: "Nia very calmly sat on the floor just stroking Lucy's hand until she came around. "For a child of only four she showed great courage and was given a special award by her school."