CHRISTMAS has come early for Millie Williams.
The five-year-old from Connah’s Quay has just been given a sparkling new pushbike, but this is no ordinary bicycle and Millie is no ordinary little girl.
Millie was diagnosed at five-months-old with lissencephaly, a rare and incurable brain disorder which has left her unable to walk and talk.
Her mum Debbie Jones, 41, launched a huge fundraising mission to improve her quality of life and the £4,700 bike, which was tailor-made in Holland, is the latest gift to her daughter.
Speaking from the family home on Hillsdown Drive, Connah’s Quay, Debbie said: “This has been a long time coming.
“We were both really excited for the delivery of the bike and couldn’t wait to ride it. The way it works is that I sit on the back and ride the bike and Millie sits in the wheelchair at the front.”
The bike was also made possible by kind donations from Myra and Graham Sutton, from Connah’s Quay, whose 26-year-old son Carl was killed in a car crash on Sealand Road in February.
The couple raised more than £1,400 since their son’s death which they decided to split between little Millie and cancer sufferer Sophie Edwards, 16, of St Martins in Oswestry.
Sian Kendrick, from Shotton, whose disabled daughter Jade died five years ago on Christmas Day, also made a contribution towards the bike.
Debbie, a single mum who also has seven-year-old son Jacob, will be making the most of the half-term holidays by taking her children for days out on the coast.
The next thing she is hoping to buy for Millie, a pupil at Ysgol Pen Coch in Flint, is an all-terrain pushchair worth £1,200.
She said: “It is such a struggle to push Millie in a normal pushchair but with this one we can take her off the beaten track and onto grass or sand.
“We live close to Wepre woods too so it will be lovely to take her up to the castle.”
Millie was not expected to live beyond her fifth birthday, but now Debbie is planning alterations to their home as her daughter gets older.
“Soon we will need a lift in our home which can take Millie upstairs,” she said.
“She’s getting heavier and I am a single mum so it’s difficult to carry her upstairs.
Millie loves to take a bath so we would like a lovely big bath fitted too.”
With the wishlist totting up Debbie has been brainstorming ideas for her next fundraiser and has enlisted best friend Helen Marl, who runs Llwyni General Store in Wepre, to help.
If you would like to donate or organise a fundraiser, call Helen on 01244 812716.