Bromley family's Wheels for Willow appeal for daughter's life changing wheelchair
8:14am Tuesday 5th March 2013 in News By Robert Fisk
Willow Chippendale's family is fundraising so she can have a powered wheelchair
LIVING a normal life is a dream for Willow Chippendale which her family is appealing for help to make come true.
The two-and-a-half-year-old is a fan of Hello Kitty and Peppa Pig and loves the colour pink.
She enjoys playing with her friends and her baby brother Albie but while he can walk she will never be able to do so.
Willow has the neuromuscular condition spinal muscular atrophy type two which causes weakness of the muscles.
This means she cannot crawl, kneel, get from a lying position to sitting or walk and will never be able to do any of these things unless a cure is found.
To give her independence her family is fundraising to buy a customised powered wheelchair, which costs £22,000.
So far they have collected around £10,000 through donations on Willow’s blog and will be doing a series of fundraisers this year, including a Bromley to Brighton bike ride.
Her mother Jess, of Foxbury Road, Bromley, said: “Anyone who has got a child who knows what it is like to see their child walk for the first time, that is not something Willow will ever be able to do.
“At the moment she sits there while her friends are running round and if she gets the wheelchair she will be able to do things normal toddlers do.”
In the powered wheelchair she will be able to run alongside her brother, hold her mother’s hand when they walk to the park, reach up to the letterbox and post a letter and pick a toy up from the floor.
Mrs Chippendale, 38, added: “The wheelchair will help give Willow the chance to have an almost normal life like other children.”
Click here to make a donation or help fundraise for Willow.
Spinal muscular atrophy is currently incurable and often fatal.
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10:46pm Tue 5 Mar 13