Little Red Wheelchair

Thank you for visiting Oona's page. Oona is a bright, loving and fearless nine year old girl with a complex neurological condition. She was born with incredible drive to achieve and live life to the fullest. Oona uses a little blue wheelchair, but the first ever wheelchair she owned was red, which explains the name!

We are looking for support to provide Oona with:

1. Adaptations to our home and specialist equipment to give Oona greater freedom and access.

2. Specialist swim training. Swimming has been particularly helpful for Oona's physical and mental health. Racing in the pool has become Oona's big dream, and she swims several times a week. Today she sees herself as a swimmer. If you meet Oona, it's likely the first thing she will tell you about herself. Oona benefits hugely from visits to Swimlab International where she gets intensive specialist swim coaching and physical therapy. 

3. After many operations on her joints and incredible focus and hard work, Oona is making progress using a walking frame indoors. To do this she requires specialist footwear and splinting, which regularly needs updated.

Oona's Story So Far...

Oona is nine years old, and she is a very chatty, intelligent and kind-hearted little girl. She has lots of big ambitions, and she loves music and acting, but most of all, swimming. 

Oona's is an active, independent wheelchair user. She finds some tasks that others do easily and quickly, very tricky, but she tries extremely hard to do everything she wants to do. Her effort is always 100%

Despite her difficulties, Oona's body is very responsive to therapy. Oona has had ten surgeries on her jaw, hips, legs and feet, and she has spent over a year with both legs in plaster from her toes to her armpits. She has never let these bumps in the road get her down. She rebuilds her strength after each operation and throws herself wholeheartedly into any therapies she is given the opportunity to try.

In 2020, Oona was very lucky to have the opportunity to learn to swim on an intensive training course for disabled children. She fast became very skilled and very passionate about this, and despite none of the family being very sporty, we knew straight away that Oona was forging her own path. Oona's priorities and her view of herself has totally changed since she discovered the water. Oona now trains with The Lothian Racers swimming team, and she has competed in several Scottish National Junior Championships, even winning medals for backstroke and front crawl. This has been a huge boost for her self esteem and her physical strength. 

You will find our most up to date videos and updates on Oona's Facebook page @little red wheelchair

7.5% of all donations to Tree of Hope in relation to this appeal will be allocated to the general charitable purposes of Tree of Hope to cover our core operating costs.

If we raise insufficient funds, or surplus funds, then the funds will be used, if appropriate, to fund support for our child’s needs in accordance with Tree of Hope’s charitable objects.  If in those circumstances we are unable to use all or part of the funds for the benefit of our child in accordance with Tree of Hope’s charitable objectives, then any funds that cannot be used will be transferred to be used for the general charitable purposes of Tree of Hope.

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