A 12-year-old girl has raised over £14,000 for Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity after becoming a social media sensation by documenting her recovery from brain surgery on TikTok.

Lottie Frascina, from Wixford, near Stratford-on-Avon, posted her progress, which took her from her hospital bed to dancing on the ward and discharge, after doctors performed life-saving emergency surgery to drain multiple abscesses in her brain.

Earlier this year, Lottie began suffering with a painful headache and a swollen eye. Lottie’s GP prescribed antibiotics, but while the swelling went down, the pain in her head continued to get worse, spreading to her neck and her temperature started to rise. Her GP and local hospital were unsure what the cause could be and, eventually, Lottie was given a blood test, where the worrying results showed that she had an incredibly aggressive infection.

Fearing that Lottie had contracted meningitis, she began receiving treatment and underwent a CT scan at her local hospital but when doctors saw that the scans showed a subdural empyema, an infection on the brain, she was urgently transferred to Birmingham Children’s Hospital by critical care ambulance. That same day, Lottie was sent for an MRI scan, but her mum and dad, Sarah and Andrew were shocked when doctors revealed that their little girl’s diagnosis was far worse than they could have imagined. An infection which had started in Lottie’s sinuses had spread to her brain, causing five cerebral abscesses on her frontal lobe which would need to be operated on immediately. Lottie was taken to theatre where surgeons operated for eight hours, carrying out a craniotomy to drain the abscesses, leaving Sarah and Andrew struggling to comprehend what was happening to their daughter.

When Lottie finally came round from her operation she appeared to bounce back to her old self, but three weeks into her recovery in hospital, doctors discovered that Lottie’s abscesses were returning and warned she may need to return to theatre for another operation.

It was at that moment that Lottie began her TikTok fundraising challenge to distract her from the prospect of another surgery. She pledged to post a video to the platform every day, and within hours of her first post she had raised over £1,000 for the hospital’s charity.

Lottie said: “The thought of having another operation was really scary so making and sharing my TikTok videos helped keep my mind off it. Luckily I didn’t need to have another operation in the end because the antibiotics kicked in, but I kept making videos until I was allowed to go home so that I could keep raising money for the charity.

“I was really proud to get to £1,000, but I couldn’t believe it when people kept giving and to date I’ve raised over £14,000. I’ll keep going to raise as much as I can and I really hope it will make a difference for other children in the hospital.”

Miranda Williams, Head of Public Fundraising at Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity, said: “We’re so pleased to hear that Lottie made such a fantastic recover after what must have been a very frightening time for her and her parents and we’re blown away by her ingenuity and the truly incredible amount she raised by sharing her TikTok videos.

“Lottie has shown that everything you need to fundraise is right at your fingertips, and even though she’s not done yet, the funds she’s raised so far will go on to help us make sure we can continue providing the best care and experiences for the thousands of sick kids we treat every year.”