Disabled woman given mermaid tail to help her swim

A woman who lost both her legs as a child has been turned into a mermaid by the Lord of the Rings special effects team so she can go swimming.

Nadya Vessey was born with a condition that meant her legs would never develop properly and by the time she was 16 she had both her legs amputated.

Now in her fifties, with false legs, she was approached by a little boy who asked her what had happened to her legs, so she told him she was a mermaid.

The idea grew on her and so she wrote to Oscar winning Weta Workshop, which was also behind the stunning visuals in 'The Chronicles of Narnia' and 'King Kong', and asked them to make her a tail.

To her surprise they agreed, creating a prosthetic tail from wetsuit fabric and plastic moulds.

Miss Vessey, from Auckland, New Zealand, said: "I never had a fantasy to be a mermaid. I am still getting used to it because it requires you to swim in a different kind of way.

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