Moving for Mobility! - Raising money to give Dahlia an independent future.

Dahlia will be turning 18 on the 30th May. We want to celebrate this landmark birthday by helping her towards independence. She has struggled with mobility issues since 2019. In March 2021 she went to bed as usual - the next morning she woke up in agony and has been unable to walk independently ever since. She was diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) - one of the most painful known medical conditions. The pain initially mainly affected her right foot but soon spread, affecting her arms, hands and back. Since then, her health has continued to deteriorate with other symptoms such as Chronic Fatigue and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) developing. Recently, she also received a diagnosis of severe Gastroparesis, which causes intense pain when eating, leaving her very weak and being fed through a NJ tube.

Over the years, her health has massively impacted her independence and ability to engage with her friends, education, and hobbies. She often requires assistance from family to complete daily tasks. Her aspiration in life is to be able to finish college, go to university, and become a hospital play therapist, to help individuals that are going through similar experiences to her. However, with her current wheelchair, there are even more hurdles she is having to face to get to this point. She has a standard manual wheelchair, which due to her CRPS affecting her arms as well, she is unable to self propel for more than short distances. This results in being reliant on others being able to push her around.

To provide her with the independence to fulfil her ambitions, we hope to get her some E-Motion wheels. These are electric wheels that would connect to her wheelchair, taking the majority of the pressure of self-propelling from her - it also has an option for cruise mode, which can be used when she is in too much pain or too fatigued to self-propel. This would allow her to be able to manoeuvre herself, creating opportunities for her to explore the world independently. However, the cost of this wheelchair attachment is over £7,419.

Here’s the good news! A mobility charity (Midshire Mobility) has accessed £3,010 funding from a generous donor (thank you ☺️). However, we still need to source an additional £4,409 to cover the remaining costs.

As an attempt to fundraise for these remaining costs, starting from Dahlia’s 18th birthday and celebrating her entering into adulthood, we plan to walk with Dahlia around the whole of Rutland Water (excluding the Hambleton Peninsula), which is roughly 15 miles, over a six week period. As sitting in the wheelchair for any prolonged period causes Dahlia intense pain, the walk will be completed in several stages. Each step we take will hopefully be a step closer to independence and more freedom for Dahlia. If you are able to donate and support us through this journey, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read about Dahlia and her story, as well as any support you can give. Please feel free to share this. We do not expect to raise the full amount but any donation - large or small - will help Dahlia achieve her dreams.