Madi gets her wheelchair - thanks to your donations

The long-awaited £8,270 wheelchair, made in Germany, was paid for by a Market Harborough business.

A delighted Madi (12) was presented with the new wheelchair at a fundraising event in town restaurant Babe Blooz on Tuesday night.

She told the Mail: “The new wheelchair is brilliant. I would like to say thank you to everyone who has donated to the fund so far. It has made a big difference to my life.”

Fundraisers to the ‘M.A.D. for Madi - Wishes on Wheels Appeal’ have also paid for a series of wishes for Madi, ranging from time in a recording studio with local band The Smarties, to seeing top musical Matilda in London.

Madi suffers from a very rare neuromuscular disorder which results in weak muscles, fatigue and difficulty breathing. She often relies on her motorised wheelchair to get about. She breathes through a tracheostomy tube in her throat. Her health can change from day to day, and her future is unpredictable, but at the moment she regularly attends Robert Smyth Academy in Market Harborough.

Her dad Oliver Brooks said: “Since June 2015 when this appeal started, the new wheelchair for Madi has been one of our main targets.

“We’ve actually had near enough £1,300 knocked off the price of this bespoke wheelchair, so I’d like to thank Bromakin Wheelchairs and Invacare for that.”

Mark Evans, the Market Harborough based businessman whose company Imerja (now Intercity Technology) donated £10,000 to the Madi fund, was also at Tuesday night’s event.

He said: “It’s great to see the wheelchair, and lovely to see that Madi is so happy with it.”

The new wheelchair, which can extend as Madi grows, will replace her old one which she has had since she was four years old.

Steve Asher of Bromakin Wheelchairs added: “The wheelchair is really a one-off, with attachments like a tray on the back for Madi’s ventilator and one at the side where here oxygen bottle goes.”

The Madi fund has so far raised around £22,000 of a £25,000 target, which includes buying the wheelchair and paying for Madi’s wish list.

Her father told the Mail: “Madi is going through a good phase at the moment and attending school regularly, which is great, but we basically go from day to day.

“In the meantime, the wheelchair makes a difference to her life and the wishes give her plenty of things to look forward to.”