Determined Calleigh on target to walk 80,000 steps for charity
Amazing 10-year-old is in constant pain but has raised over £2k for local charity
A DETERMINED Co Down girl who suffers from a congenital heart disease and lives with constant pain in her joints is refusing to let anything stop her from raising funds for a local charity.
Calleigh Rodgers (10) from Kilkeel survived a heart operation at just five weeks old and has smiled through countless other medical conditions in her young life.
She still requires knee braces to aid her walking, and wears a back brace 23 hours every day after being diagnosed with scoliosis, but is still on course to hit her target of 80,000 steps in the month of September to raise funds for Heartbeat NI.
“She’s had a battle since I was 19 weeks pregnant,” said proud mum Laura.
“A scan showed she could either have Down’s Syndrome or Turner’s Syndrome. It was Turner’s and there was a good chance she wouldn’t survive until birth. We’d never heard of it, but despite being advised a medical termination we chose to let her decide.
“It turns out she was stubborn and she’s been stubborn for 10 years now!
“It does come with a lot of other medical conditions though, one of them being congenital heart disease.
“She was very ill when she was born and had her first heart operation at just five weeks old.
“She also needs more open heart surgery, has a murmur and a slight distortion in her ventricle as well. She faces a lot of challenges but she’s always tackled everything with a smile.”
Calleigh’s determination has seen her thrive, and she’s now a P7 pupil at Grange Primary School in Kilkeel.
“As a family we’ve been helped a lot by a local charity, Heartbeat NI, and she overheard me talking with her dad Cathal that we’d like to do their Step-tember challenge to raise money after all they have done for us. Once she heard about it that was it. She was doing it. She refuses to let us do anything for her if she can help it.”
Laura said walking is difficult for Calleigh.
“This is a really big challenge, but she’s out there at 7pm every night with her wee crutches and her knee braces and her back brace,” she said.
“Calleigh suffers from a lot of joint pain in her knees, hips and ankles and her knee caps can dislocate so easily.
“When she was eight years old we finally got somewhere with her knees and she now wears two knee braces to help stop them from popping.
“She still has daily physio on her knees and hips and ankles to help strengthen them, and she uses her crutches for walking to help take the pain and pressure of her joints.
“We have been told that she does need operations on her knees when she’s older but she’s far too young at the minute.
“On top of that we also found out that she has scoliosis so she now wears a back brace 23 hours a day. She’s put up with a lot, but we’re so proud of her for her determination to do this.
“Her dad goes out with her every night, and her brother is her biggest supporter, though he hates walking and takes his bike!
“It’s tough on us seeing her in pain on a daily basis. It’s even tougher on her, but she always has a smile on her face and we couldn’t be more proud.
“She said at the start of this she would like to raise £300.
She’s now over £2,000 so she’s done brilliantly.”
With just over a week left of her challenge, Calleigh’s looking forward to finally getting back to her favourite pastime of baking.
“She’s loves making buns and cakes for her nanny and granddad. She already has another challenge lined up and has entered a baking competition,” said Laura. “She’s very strict with herself when she puts her mind to these things so once the heat pads come off to ease the joints I’m sure we’ll be straight into the kitchen!”
By the end of September Calleigh will have walked around 45 miles to raise funds for Heartbeat NI. Find out how to support her at justgiving.com by searching ‘Calleighs Spet-tember Challenge’