Generous Express readers have helped a wheelchair charity reopen its waiting list and continue providing life-changing equipment for youngsters like 10-year-old Renesmai. Last winter’s Christmas appeal – Give the Gift of Childhood – raised a staggering £127,000 for Whizz Kidz as it faced the worst crisis in its 35-year history.
The cash funded additional clinical capacity, service improvements, staff training and digital innovation, allowing Whizz Kidz to start welcoming new families once more. Your donations have also bought equipment for children including Renesmai, who was born with a heart defect.
She picked up a manual chair with a powered attachment in July after more than three years on the waiting list. Her mum Bernice Garland, 37, said: “She’s loved it. For me, it’s a little bit nerve-wracking because she’s usually attached to me whenever we’ve been out anywhere.
“Now she’s got her own set of wheels, she can go where she wants to and be a child of her own age. We take for granted that you can just go out to the shops and have a look around. She’s not been able to do that, so she’s become like a ‘normal’ 10-year-old because of the wheelchair.”
Renesmai was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which occurs when the left side of the heart fails to develop properly. She has undergone 10 open heart surgeries and suffered a stroke after the first operation, when she was just nine days old.
Bernice said: “If she does any walking, it makes her quite blue and out of breath. Before we had the wheelchair, we used to carry her or put her in a buggy. She’s 10 now, so she wants to be more independent. The wheelchair has been a lifesaver for her.”
Bernice described her daughter as a sassy, nosy and fiery girl who knows her own mind. Renesmai’s frustration with her lack of mobility used to trigger tears and tantrums.
She was given an NHS wheelchair but it was too heavy and bulky, with small wheels that meant she could not propel herself. Now, Renesmai uses her Whizz Kidz chair whenever she leaves the Basingstoke home she shares with her parents and three brothers.
Watching her little girl smile and spin as she tried out the new wheelchair was “very emotional”, Bernice added. She said: “Until you’ve you’re in that situation or your child needs that piece of equipment, you don’t actually really know what’s out there. And then when you start looking, it’s a bit of a minefield.
“I had no idea what she needed. Whizz Kidz stepped in and we went for a trial session. They were amazing from day one. We’re incredibly grateful.
“It’s hard having a child like Renesmai – the financial difficulty of staying in hospital and things like that. Seeing her smile, laugh, giggle and be a normal child is amazing. They’ve given her that.”
An estimated 75,000 young people in the UK need a wheelchair to be mobile. Whizz Kidz haș faced rising demand and soaring costs in recent years.
The charity’s chief executive Sarah Pugh said reopening the waiting list was “not the end of the challenge” but marks “an important step forward”.
Writing in this newspaper today, she adds: “To the Express and its readers, thank you. We have been truly moved by the response. At a time when so many people are facing challenges of their own, you chose to stand alongside disabled young people and their families.
“Your compassion, generosity and belief in what these children can achieve have helped create life-changing opportunities across the country.”
Express editor-in-chief Geoff Maynard said: “Thank you to everyone who donated. Our readers never let us down and it was amazing to see such an outpouring of support for Whizz Kids in their time of need.”
You can support Whizz Kidz here.
This story originally appeared on Express.co.uk
