A woman who paid £5,000 to have her leg amputated has said it was the best decision of her life after she lost 4st in weight and became a champion triathlete.

Hannah Moore is now aiming to compete at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2020 and has been fitted with a revolutionary prosthetic cycling leg to help propel her to a gold medal.

The 21-year-old had her right leg amputated below the knee two years ago after an ingrowing toenail caused years of excruciating pain and left her battling sepsis and in a wheelchair.

The NHS didn't recommend the radical and life-changing procedure and refused to do it so Hannah's family paid for it to be done privately.

Since the surgery Hannah has gone from strength to strength, becoming a super-fit triathlete and losing more than 50lbs in the process.

Her new custom-made £10,000 'cycling leg' has been designed by leading prosthetics firm Dorset Orthopaedic.

The light-weight carbon-fibre limb clips directly to the pedal meaning no power is lost when she pushes down.

As well as enabling her to transfer more power to the bike, her new leg also provides her with far greater stability when going around corners.

Previously, Hannah used a regular prosthetic leg for the cycling discipline of the triathlon, which was attached to a trainer strapped to the pedal and was very wobbly.

Hannah, from Sherborne, said the new leg should give her an edge over competitors.

She said: "Having my leg amputated was the best decision I've ever made. The things I have achieved I would never have without this operation.

"I am a British champion and now my dream is to compete in Tokyo."

Hannah will remove the artificial limb and replace it with a blade for the running part of a triathlon.

Matthew Hughes, prosthetist at Dorset Orthopaedic, said the streamlined design should help Hannah improve her times on the bike.

He said: "The science behind the shape of the leg is to make it more aerodynamic and we have used a pre-pregnated carbon fibre which hasn't been used for cycling legs before."

Six years ago Hannah was a 15-year-old national karate champion when she underwent a routine procedure for an ingrowing toenail.

However, it triggered a rare, debilitating condition called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) which blighted her life for the next four years.

The situation got so bad that Hannah was left wheelchair-bound.

At that point she made the agonising decision to have her right leg amputated to stop the pain even though she was told there was no guarantee it would work.

Hannah's family paid privately for the procedure in July 2016.

The gamble paid off as the Yeovil College student is no longer in pain and the fittest she has been in her life.

Last August she became the British PTS4 Paratriathlon Champion and she will begin a sports and exercise degree at Loughborough University later this year.

She said: "It's all been about making the most out of situation showing to myself as much as anyone that a 'disability' doesn’t have to define what you can and can't do.

"I have achieved so much more than I ever thought I would and this is just the beginning which is very exciting."