Stories

Hadley from Southampton is nine years old and has cerebral palsy. He likes like rugby, football, cricket, and Formula One racing and he plays wheelchair basketball for Hampshire Hornets Wheelchair Basketball Club. Here, in his own words, he shares his reflections on wheelchairs and explains how a sports wheelchair, funded by Variety, has helped him.

Dante from Liverpool is 12 years old and has osteogenesis imperfecta, otherwise known as brittle bone disease. He is a Variety Young Ambassador and Pride of Britain 2019 award winner. Here, in his own words, he discusses his experiences of being a wheelchair user and the difference that having a light manual wheelchair, funded by Variety, has made to his life.

Emily from Hampshire, who is a Variety Young Ambassador, is 13 years old and has spina bifida. Here, in her own words, she discusses how a mobile electric hoist, funded by Variety, helps her transfer smoothly and safely from her wheelchair onto her bed and other places, protecting her parent-carers' backs in the process.

Yassine from Berkshire is 16 years old and currently in year 11 at school. He has cerebral palsy. He plays wheelchair basketball for the Thames Valley Kings Wheelchair Basketball Team and is a Variety Young Ambassador. Here, in his own words, he talks about the difference that his new sports wheelchair, donated by Variety, has made to his life.

Hannah is 7 years old and lives in Glasgow. She has epilepsy, and experiences several different seizure types, including focal, drop seizures, tonic, and tonic-clonic. The tonic-clonic seizures usually become Status Epilepticus, meaning they last more than 5 minutes, though her longest seizure lasted almost two hours.

Daniel is 14 and has a life-limiting muscle-wasting condition called Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy – a rare genetic disease. Daniel also has severe anxiety, which has impacted greatly on his day-to-day life.

Harry from Liverpool is 8 years old and has hydrocephalus and spina bifida. He mainly uses his wheelchair to get about, but also makes use of a walking frame at times. Here, proud dad Mick tells us his story.

Lucas, who is 13 and from Yorkshire, is an identical twin. His diagnoses include severe autism, refractory epilepsy, global development delay and severe learning and behavioral difficulties. Like so many disabled children, Lucas also has severe anxiety.

Hadley is 9 years old and lives in Hampshire. He is a twin who was born 3 months premature. As a result of being born this early, Hadley has cerebral palsy and spastic quadriplegia, which means he needs to use a wheelchair. He also has anxiety.

Elliott from Gloucestershire is 10 years old and a registered carer to his older brother Finley, who has Down's syndrome. Here,‌ ‌in‌ ‌his‌ ‌own‌ ‌words,‌ ‌Elliott ‌describes‌ ‌his‌ ‌life‌ ‌as‌ ‌a‌ ‌young‌ ‌carer‌ ‌to‌ ‌his‌ ‌brother.‌