An award-winning foster carer and adoptive mother has been left heartbroken when council plans to knock down houses on an estate ruined her dream move to a new home.

Single parent Mary Smelczerczyk saw the value of her terraced house plummet when Kingston upon Hull City Council announced it could be demolished.

She claims she has had to turn foster children away and fears her own children could be suffering.

Ms Smelczerczyk, 38, of Finchley Close, Ings Road estate, east Hull, suffered a massive stroke two-and-a-half years ago and is unable to carry her children up and down the stairs.

She was about to move into a new two-storey house which could be fitted with a lift when a letter from the council arrived announcing "a plan for the demolition of bedsits and flats" and "the rehousing of current residents of these properties".

The distraught mother-of-four said: "I can't sell the house now. No one is going to buy a house that could very soon be knocked down.

"I am devastated. My doctor has said I should not have any stress, but I have spent the past few days in floods of tears.

"We were all packed up and ready to go. Now we have been left in limbo and it is all up in the air."

Her children, Kristofer, 11, Andrew, 14, Katrina, 15, and her ten-year-old adopted son Richard, who is autistic, are equally upset.

Earlier this year, a leading women's magazine named Ms Smelczerczyk as one of Britain's bravest women, alongside Sara Payne, the mother of murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne, disabled athlete Tanni Grey-Thompson and Paddington train crash survivor Pam Warren.

Mary's life-threatening ordeal began in 1998 when surgeons removed a blood clot the size of an orange from the right-hand side of her brain.

She was not expected to survive and if she did had a 50 per cent chance of brain damage. When Mary finally woke up she was paralysed down her left side and recalled seeing "three gorgeous children" by her bed - but didn't realise that they were hers.

Then began the difficult but determined road to recovery. She said: "My family rallied round me to care for my children. One of my goals was to get better so I could begin fostering again. The kids kept me going. I had so much to live for.

"I also wanted to adopt Richard. This gave me the determination and willpower to succeed."

But she added: "Since the stroke I am a lot weaker down my left side. I am not able to carry children up the stairs. I have had to turn foster children away because of this.

"When I bought the house from the council it cost £33,000. I have done a lot of work to it, but I've had to drop the price over and over again. I was willing to accept £22,000 because we were moving for the sake of the children."

Daughter Katrina, 15, added: "I think it's disgusting the way we've been treated. The council should be trying to help foster carers, not make life more difficult for them."

Used courtesy of the Hull Daily Mail