Charlotte was born with a condition called Achondroplasia, commonly known as dwarfism. In Charlotte’s younger years she lived a pretty normal life, only really contending with a spinal operation and she was able to walk unaided. Charlotte’s caring and thoughtful personality meant she built up a large friendship group whilst enjoying life, from girly holidays abroad through to progressing her career.

However, the last 7 years have seen some drastic changes both positive and negative; Charlotte has got engaged to a loving and very supportive Fiancé (Lewis) and together they have bought their own bungalow and have a gorgeous little girl called Ellie-Mae, who will be 2 this year. But, unfortunately, despite Charlotte saying she was fine and managing, the last 7 years have been difficult, her spinal problems never really went away.

In the more recent years, Charlotte has endured multiple spinal operations, and she has gone from being able to walk on crutches for support, although heavily aided as time went on, to now being wheelchair bound. Despite even day-to-day tasks becoming a struggle, Charlotte continues to work, as it’s a sense of normality in her life that she wants to continue. However, she tells us that this limits the support she can get which in her words ‘is really sad’.

At the moment, whilst she is unable to get out the house unaided and feels she is getting very little support where required, Charlotte is really feeling the strain and tells us that ‘going from being completely independent to having no independence is hard’.

For those of you that know Charlotte, we hope you will agree that she is an incredible woman. Strong willed, humorous and always upbeat – Charlotte is a pleasure to be around, and a true friend.

So with this in mind, whilst Charlotte and Lewis are looking into getting a new low-level front door and ramp, there are a group of us that have decided (with Charlotte’s blessing) to act on our ideas and try to raise funds to help give Charlotte a quicker route to the independence she deserves.

Initially, our aim is to get Charlotte on her way towards an electric wheelchair. We’ve therefore set up this Gofundme page to enable people to support Charlotte in her fight for more independence, ideally this will include some new wheels which we hope will give her more fortune in life. Our goal is to raise somewhere between £3,500 and £4,000, to cover the expected cost of £3,500 for the electric wheelchair, plus go towards the fees listed here: https://www.gofundme.com/pricing

The idea is simple; you can donate on this page. We are inviting anyone that wants to be involved to either simply donate, or if you want to show your support in other ways then please feel free to arrange some kind of fundraising activity to help too. Any funds raised will go towards a more independent future for Charlotte.