Kyra Warrell, the six-year-old who underwent pioneering surgery in Haifa to save her leg, has returned home to Britain as her parents praised the care she received in Israel.

Her father, Neil Warrell, said medics at the Rambam Hospital had done everything possible to help the family before they flew back to Brighton on Tuesday.

The Warrells, who are not Jewish, said they were also overwhelmed by the kindness of the Israeli public.

Strangers stocked their fridge, took them out for meals and threw a birthday party for Kyra last week.

Rima Warrell, her mother, said: “We had a lovely last few days in Israel, entertained by people we met through Twitter who opened up their homes to us and took us sightseeing in Tel Aviv.

“We said a teary goodbye to these people. We will be friends for life.”

Mrs Warrell is already planning a new round of fundraising for Kyra’s first leg-lengthening surgery in Florida, where the family will have to relocate next year for three months of daily post-op physiotherapy.

Dr Dror Paley, a Florida-based leg-lengthening specialist, flew to Haifa to perform preparatory surgery on Kyra at lower cost than in the United States. 

NHS doctors had warned that the cost of operating in Britain was too high, and planned to amputate Kyra’s leg. 

She has a rare condition which makes one leg 20cm shorter than the other.

With the help of a story in the JC in December, the Warrell family raised £51,000 of the £58,000 cost of last week’s operation as well as their costs of staying in Israel.

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