A girl with a serious heart condition is looking forward to more freedom after receiving a life changing gift.

Last month Grace Southwell, from Lancaster Road, South Norwood, was presented with a new machine that allows her to monitor her blood levels at home.

Grace's mum Karen said it would save the 11-year-old from a weekly trip to the hospital that had affected her school work and left her feeling different to her classmates.

"It's going to be much easier for her. We are trying to keep her life as normal as possible," she said.

The presentation took place at Wye Valley Garden Centre in Morden today as part of the CoagulaNation Tour, an event organised by medical company Roche Diagnostics to promote self testing for people with blood conditions.

Grace was born with the condition aortic stenosis, which means that as she grows up she needs a series of operations on one of her arteries.

This leaves Grace at risk of dangerous blood clots and so she takes the drug Warfarin to thin her blood.

The new machine, donated by Roche, quickly checks the level of Warfarin in her bloodstream is at the right level.

Until now Grace has had to go to hospital before school once a week for a much more complicated test.