Your help is needed so a seven-year-old Corsham girl can get the special car seat that is needed to keep her safe and comfortable on car journeys.
Matilda Carter has a number of conditions that affect her each and every day. She needs a wheelchair and at present has seizures every day without warning that take a while to recover from.
A new specialist car seat is needed for Matilda as her current seat does not offer the essential support needed to keep her safe and comfortable. The new equipment, which is needed so she can attend important hospital and doctor’s appointments, would have a seat support preventing Matilda banging into the window or falling into the middle of the car if she has a seizure. It would also be far easier for lifting the seven-year-old in and out of the car as the seat has a turntable facility.
The specialist seat will cost £2,086 and there are no grants available for the family, so they have turned to Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children who are looking to raise the funds in Wiltshire for Matilda’s new equipment.
“Our daughter suffered a prolonged seizure in 2011, resulting in her having Cerebral Palsy,” explained Duncan, Matilda’s father. “Earlier this year she had surgery for dislocating hips due to the Cerebral Palsy, both the surgery and conditions have impacted her capabilities.
“Without the specialist car seat funded by Newlife, journeys of any distance could be ruled out and transfers to and from the car will become increasingly problematic.
“The family’s ability to access everyday actives will become increasingly curtailed without the new seat.”
Newlife has helped 80 children in Wiltshire just like Matilda through equipment grants and loans totalling over £171,585, so we know there is a very real county need.
That’s why Newlife – the largest charity funder of specialist equipment for children with disabilities and terminal illness in the UK – recently launched the Newlife Wiltshire Fund – www.newlifecharity.co.uk/wiltshire. It is an opportunity for local people to help local disabled children and every penny donated or fundraised in Wiltshire is guaranteed to support families in the county.
In this way we aim to help more children, more quickly.
Special disability equipment including wheelchairs, walkers, beds, seating and communication aids can help give children independence, keep them safe, relieve pain and overcome challenges. For instance, you could help a child be discharged from hospital, take their first steps or kick a football with their friends. . .
Together we can really change the lives of children with disabilities and terminal illness – supporting them to experience and enjoy life and all that we take for granted.
Statutory services in Wiltshire often have a responsibility to make equipment provision – but when help is declined, Newlife steps in. The charity challenges many such decisions and has an impressive success rate. However, where we are unable to overturn these decisions, we would look to provide the equipment ourselves through our range of grant and loan services. We do this with the support of front-line health professionals across Wiltshire who have helped Newlife help local children in real need.
The Newlife Wiltshire Fund will support equipment provision for under-19s facing any significant disability, whether acquired through birth defect, prematurity, accident or illness.
Vitally, the Wiltshire Fund website – www.newlifecharity.co.uk/Wiltshire – will enable local people to find out who needs help in the county right now and highlight the support the charity gives vulnerable families. It includes contact details for the Newlife County Liaison Team – telephone number 01543 431 444 or email local@newlifecharity.co.uk – and shows specific ways people can help support children with disabilities and terminal illness and their families.
That might involve taking part in a local sporting challenge, give you information on how to organise a fundraising event – or even ask you to donate £5 today! Volunteers are also needed to help raise awareness of what we do and how we do it.
Newlife Foundation supports families in Wiltshire through a range of free services: Nurse-staffed helpline Equipment grants Emergency equipment loans Sensory and developmental toy ‘pod’ loans.
The aim of the Newlife Wiltshire Fund, is to ensure children with disabilities or terminal illness in the county will not have to go without the equipment they need for everyday life.
Any monies collected surplus to requirements for Matilda would be used to provide specialist equipment for another disabled or terminally ill child in Wiltshire.
Pictured: Matilda Carter
Web: https://newlifecharity.co.uk
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