Disabled Millom girl is all smiles as community rallies
Last updated at 16:47, Wednesday, 30 January 2013
A DISABLED youngster’s dream of being able to play out with her friends could be about to come true.
Two-year-old Natasha Penrith has cerebral palsy. Her parents, Jacob and Lisa Penrith, from Millom, are still waiting to discover the extent of her condition and are raising money to give her a safe outdoor play area, as she struggles with mobility.
After reading about her plight in the Evening Mail, members of the South Copeland Disability Group sprang into action and put together a funding bid to purchase a specialist mobility trike for Natasha.
Mrs Penrith said she was shocked and pleasantly surprised at the response the family had received since the story featured in the paper.
She said: “I was just shocked, it’s just so nice.
“We’ve also had someone contact us who said he can discuss ideas on the outside play area, and said he could either do a good discount or give his time for free to build it.
“The trike will give her some independence. She wants to play out with the other kids on their bikes but she just can’t.
“And when she’s in the buggy and her twin is walking beside us she gets a bit upset sometimes, because she wants to do the same thing.
“But if she has got this trike then she’s going to think she’s the bee’s knees!”
Natasha spent the first four weeks of her life at Royal Preston Hospital’s neonatal unit, after she was born with E.coli, septicaemia and meningitis.
Bleeding and other fluid on the brain resulted in brain damage and she was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
Natasha is diplegic, meaning she has a weakness in her lower limbs.
Mrs Penrith hopes the new trike will improve her daughter’s quality of life.
She said: “With the trike being specially adapted, the more she’s using her legs the stronger they’ll become and it’ll help her out in the long run.”
Noel ‘Rocky’ Moore, secretary of the SCDG, said the group had submitted a £2,000 funding bid to the Sellafield Snowball charity, in order to purchase the trike.
If successful, the group will donate the trike to Millom Stepping Stones – Natasha’s day nursery – who can in turn loan it to the Penriths.
Mr Moore said: “We were eager to help because that’s one of the things we try to do: get funding for people with disabilities who can’t apply for funding themselves.”
The Penriths are holding a fundraising stork sale and coffee morning on February 24, to raise money for Natasha’s outdoor play area project.
The event will take place at Millom Guide Hall, off St George’s Road from 2pm to 4pm.
First published at 10:27, Wednesday, 30 January 2013
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk
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Lovely story,wonderful community.
Posted by captain bluebirdseye on 30 January 2013 at 21:28