Maya hoping for ‘life-changing’ space-age equipment.
A Milton Keynes student has launched an appeal to help her buy a new wheelchair and fulfil her dreams of unlocking greater mobility at university and with friends.
Maya Czerminska, from Olney, needs to retire her current eight year old wheelchair and find a more modern alternative.
The 17-year-old has a rare illness called Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 2 which weakens her muscles. She has her sights set on a new futuristic iBOT wheelchair which has four wheel drive, allowing it to go up and down steps and kerbs, and across rough terrain. It also climbs stairs, which Maya says would be ‘life changing’ as she prepares to go to university next year.
“My current wheelchair is faulty and unsafe as I have had it for eight years and it no longer lives up to my needs and lifestyle,” said Maya. “I rely on a wheelchair all day, every day to be able to do the things I love, including seeing my friends, going to school and travelling.”
The fun-loving student also likes beaches but can rarely go on one because her current wheelchair can’t cope with moving over sand, like the iBOT could.
But the new wheelchair costs more than £52,000 and although Maya receives a ‘voucher’ from the NHS to help her buy equipment, that’s only around 10 per cent of the total money she needs.
Maya has a GoFundMe page which has raised £21,000 of her £52,700 target, and she says she is grateful to the generous people who have already contributed to her cause, including an anonymous donation of £5,000.
“It’s amazing, I didn’t think the donations would happen so fast,” she said. “I’m grateful because it’s essential that I can get around safely and independently in a wheelchair that works. The new wheelchair would make me more independent and able to go out and not be limited by steps.”
More details: gofundme.com/maya-get-a-new-stairclimbing-wheelchair.
