The model amputee footballer taking on the world

A teenager whose leg was amputated after a cancer diagnosis has said playing football has helped her get "all my power back".

Annabel Kiki is only 17, but already has an impressive list of achievements under her belt, having debuted as an England player in the first ever Women's Amputee World Cup in 2024.

The ambitious teenager has also performed at the Eurovision Song Contest, worked as a model, and has aimed to swim at the Paralympics in 2028.

Wondering if she would ever score again, she became involved in amputee football after joining a team at Everton in the Community.

She told BBC Radio Merseyside: "I felt I had all my power back and I could go fast again.

"You can get a really good swing on the crutches and the goals are coming think and fast now, so I'm over the moon."

Steve Johnson, who manages 12 disabled teams for Everton in the Community and is also an amputee, said: "If she continues progressing how she is, she could be best player in the world.

"Obviously it's going to take a lot of hard work… but she has that potential."

Annabel Kiki had been playing football since the age of seven but was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, external, a form of bone cancer, when she was 13.

She underwent chemotherapy and immunotherapy, and nearly died after suffering sepsis.

One of her legs was amputated as she endured "a horror, horror two years".

"My world was completely changed.

"Since then I have relearnt to do everything that I have done before. Relearning to walk was the biggest thing and that just took lots and lots of practice.

"Originally I was on a mechanical leg and it was just like walking on a stick. I felt a bit like a pirate to be honest – there wasn't much technology with it then."

She said the biggest challenge was raising funds for her prosthetic leg, which cost £120,000.

However the target was reached in four days when she launched an online campaign.

"It was absolutely insane and I'm really, really lucky but unfortunately other children don't have that opportunity."

She is now collaborating with children's commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza in parliament to help "every child get the prosthetic they deserve".

Along with the football, she is a keen swimmer and aims to compete at the Paralympics in 2028.

"That's a completely different world to football but also very exciting."

Despite her already busy schedule, she also works as a model and is set to appear at London Fashion Week this autumn.

She told Radio Merseyside she also wanted to break into acting, joking: "I can be a victim, I can lose my leg in a horror movie - start small."

The teenager already had a taste of fame when performing in a drumming group alongside singer Sam Ryder and Queen band member Roger Taylor at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool.

She credited her family for their support, particularly her mother, who slept in a hospital chair during her treatment.

"They were always around me, rallying around."

Kiki said her "never give up" mindset drove her ambition, and while the cancer "wasn't the most amazing thing to happen", there was "no point in letting your heart shatter".

"You can only move forward and work with what's happened to you."

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