Lily is a talented young singer-songwriter and actor. She has big dreams of one day becoming a pop star and she already writes her own songs (lyrics and melody). She also performs on stage with her two different theatre groups in 6–7 shows a year!

Lily is also a full-time power wheelchair user and she desperately needs a new wheelchair so she can keep singing, dancing and having adventures.

Her current wheelchair has been her brilliant companion since she was 4, but she is now 10 and she has outgrown the seat and requires different seating and suspension options, which her current wheelchair just can't do. As you can see in the photo, her current wheelchair's body is very tired and scraped and the wheels are really rusty. One of the lights is hanging off at a weird angle and both armrests are broken. Additionally, her current wheelchair has outlived its extended warranty and so if anything goes wrong, we will have to pay out of pocket to fix it. A single drive motor (and her wheelchair has two) costs around £800. Replacing her seat would cost around £8000. It really adds up. Being disabled is really expensive!

Unfortunately, the NHS does not fund the type of wheelchair that will meet her needs, as they only offer the most basic of models, so we are asking for your help.

Her new wheelchair will have independent suspension for all four wheels, which will help reduce fatigue and pain. It will also have a much hardier joystick with a metal casing, which will mean we don't have to replace the joystick several times a year (Lily has accidentally cracked her current one so many times because it has a plastic casing and it has encountered rogue tables and pianos a few times). It will have an electric swing-away joystick, which will mean greater independence. It will have a slightly smaller size and neater turning circle, which is very important for dancing and also for heading to secondary school in the not-to-distant future. It will be faster, so she will be better able to keep up with her friends. It will have a seat and headrest which can be used to travel in the car because Lily is currently transferred into a high-back booster for car travel and this won't be possible for much longer.

Most importantly, it will be PINK and hopefully also SPARKLY*

The breakdown of the funding is:

*STRETCH BUDGET – the wheelchair comes with pink accent panels, which is great, but Lily would like those pieces hydro dipped to make them BRIGHT PINK with RAINBOW SPARKLES (I am assured that these pieces can be easily swapped out in case she goes through a goth phase as a teenager), and this costs £700, so any extra funds raised above the goal total will go towards making the wheelchair the pink and sparkly one of Lily's dreams. Any extra above that will go towards unanticipated running costs and extra years of insurance once the original 4-year policy is up.

I will be running some fundraising events to help with this. Please keep an eye on this page for updates!