Mia Myers is 15 years old and is always smiling. She is an A grade student, loves art, music(especially live), movies, cooking, writing and family and friends. But Mia has to cope with a disability that marks her out as not just another happy go lucky teenager. She has spinal muscular atrophy type 111 : a rare neuromuscular condition which effects muscle strength. Mia has been using a wheelchair for increasing amounts of time since the age of 5 and from a young age she developed scoliosis (curvature of the spine) which worsened through the years. By the age of 12 Mia was a fulltime wheelchair user and at this time it was decided Mia should undergo spinal fusion surgery where titanium rods were screwed into her spine. The operation was a success but it has limited Mia’s mobility even further, and has left significant emotional scars on this remarkably brave and wonderful young woman. Despite everything she’s been through she’s still won academic awards and been chosen as Deputy Head Girl of her school. In fact Mia’s real dislikes are that people patronize her because she’s in a wheelchair and that the chair limits her ambitions......of which she has many! And that’s where you come in.
Mia’s wheelchair limits the things she can participate in.....family walks, visits to town with friends, even popping to the local shop can be hazardous. In bad winter weather Mia’s wheelchair couldn’t cope with ice and a kerb and she very nearly tipped over. Such incidents leave her parents worried and sometimes unwilling to let her be out and about on her own, which as a teenager is the very thing she wants! What we want to do is raise enough money so that Mia can have a 4x4 wheelchair. This will give her the freedom to do almost anything she wants, get involved in all the things she dreams of, and allow her to explore the world in a way we would wish for all of our children. Please give as generously as you can so that by the Spring of 2018 we really can GET MIA GOING.