Whizz Kidz Under 10’s Provision & Loan Scheme

August 2024 –

Last year, we committed £345,000 to create a Whizz Kidz under-10s provision and loan scheme. The funding aimed to increase the range of equipment offered to children between 1 and 10 years old, with an emphasis on powered equipment. The grant was also intended to fund the pilot of a new loan scheme. The team would loan wheelchairs to children under 5, allowing them to learn basic wheelchair skills and gain the many benefits of independent mobility.

Across the UK approximately 8,000 children below the age of 5 require the use of a wheelchair. The NHS provides buggies for children under 3 only in specific instances and rarely grants powered mobility to children under 5. Consequently, families rely on their own personal buggies unless they require specialist ones, depriving children under 5 of independent mobility during their early years.

Throughout the past 12 months, Whizz Kidz has prescribed and ordered a range of Buggies, Trikes, Manual wheelchairs and Specialist Equipment. They also trialed a small number of new powered wheelchairs (the Zippie Q300). A child can use these wheelchairs for approximately ten years, replacing at least two other pieces of equipment that would usually be prescribed during this time.

The effectiveness of the Whizz Kidz team, along with their capability to now refurbish and re-loan equipment, has enabled them to support more families and assist more children during their crucial early years of development.

Children just like three-year-old Jake

It took Jake only an hour, from getting the right wheelchair to become a literal whizz kid, zipping around his house.

“He’s a natural,” says Mum Liz. “We got home, we put him in it, and I Facetimed my sister and his grandma to show them. And he’s whizzing around the house straight away! There was no delay.”

Described as “independent, adventurous and cheeky” Jake has an incredibly rare combination of two conditions. He has dwarfism (achondroplasia) and Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

“He’s the only person to have both ever. There isn’t anybody else or any other record of anybody else with both disabilities.” Liz says. “We know what having dwarfism means, and we also know what having Duchenne’s means. It’s life-limiting. A muscle-wasting disability. So he’ll gradually lose the ability to use his muscles. We don’t know how the two are going to interact or how they’re interacting—it’s all new. So we don’t know what the future looks like. It’s like Jake is choosing his own path and writing his own rules.”

The family’s local wheelchair services refused to give him a wheelchair because of his size, and the NHS usually offers buggies to children under five, which parents and carers need to push.

The right wheelchair for Jake turned out to be a Panthera Micro 3, one of the smallest manual wheelchairs available and incredibly lightweight and easy to handle for children under 5.

Sarah Wallace and John Bearman, who worked with Jake, confirm that many of the youngest children they see seem to understand how to maneuver their new wheelchair as soon as they sit in it. Jake got the idea of what to do by pushing toward Quack Quack, his beloved toy penguin.

Just three weeks later, Liz shared a video of Jake in his new chair on the way to meet his brother Jamie from school. The progress is impressive. Along with the turn of speed and steering upgrade, Quack Quack now has his own spot on board the footplate and goes on all of Jake’s adventures with him.

“It’s definitely life-changing, and it’s allowed him to be a three-year-old. It’s allowed him to be a happy child enjoying his life.”

For more information and to read more of Jake’s story : https://www.whizz-kidz.org.uk/about-us/our-impact/jakes-story/

Anna Twentyman, CFO of The Kentown Wizard Foundation says:

“The Whizz Kidz team have exceeded their goals for this fantastic project and we are very proud to have been able to be a part of it. The increase in equipment to children under 10 years old, along with their new loan scheme has greatly benefited the children and families they support and we certainly look forward to working with them again in the future.”

Charity Registration number: England and Wales (802872) and Scotland (SC042607)