A MUM’S four-year mission to raise tens of thousands of pounds for her daughter to receive life-changing treatment in the United States that will enable her to walk has made touchdown.

Freya, aged 8, from Ruthin, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy aged three and has relied on a walking frame and wheelchair since. Soon after her diagnosis, her mum, Beth Woolford, began researching specialist treatment and found a children’s hospital in the St Louis, Missouri that carries out the necessary spinal operation.

Upon the realisation the operation would allow Freya, who attends Ysgol Borthyn in Ruthin, to walk again, Beth was desperate to take her – but a £65,000 medical bill stood in the way.

Denbighshire Free Press: Ms Woolford expects Freya (pictured) will no longer have to use a walking frame or wheelchair after the operation.Ms Woolford expects Freya (pictured) will no longer have to use a walking frame or wheelchair after the operation.

Without the financial capability, she started a fundraiser, unsure whether it would take off due to living in a small town like Ruthin. But the single mum-of-two soon found it received huge support and, after four long years of ups and downs in which her five-year-old son, Max, was diagnosed with type one diabetes, she is at last celebrating after achieving the target sum.

“As a mum I didn’t know I could feel so many emotions as when I found out – there was relief, happiness, fear, nerves and excitement,” she said. “It’s been a long haul. When I first decided to go ahead, living in a small town I thought it would not be doable but actually it has helped. As soon as I started the community got behind it and I couldn’t have done it without their help.

“Everywhere we went, people asked how the fundraising was going – even people we don’t know!

“It has been a long process which became the norm. Some times were harder than others; there were a few months when we raised nothing and I thought, ‘it will be tough to get to the end of this’.

“It has been a real struggle for Freya, to walk unaided and she has very poor balance and co-ordination and falls over a lot. She wouldn’t remember a time when we were not raising money for the operation.

“But as hard as life is for her she has enjoyed the process, she gets a lot of attention and people have warmed to her.

“She’s very bright and I’ve been honest with her so she completely understands what the operation will do for her. She’s very excited.”

Over the four years, Ms Woolford held collection boxes, cake sales, car boot sales, disco nights and an auction of promises. She also staged a concert at the Ruthin Livestock Market headlined with a performance by her second cousin and The Voice finalist Joel Woolford. A £5,000 grant was also given by Caudwell Children, the UK charity for disabled children.

But Ms Woolford says the fundraiser has been reached “as a community”, without whom Freya’s operation would not be possible before her ninth birthday.

She said: “We are so grateful for the help we received from people in Ruthin and nearby areas. The Ruthin Panto Society and North Wales Truck Gathering have been so helpful, as well as volunteer Neil Roberts, who put his heart and soul into it, but there are many others.

“It restores your faith in humanity.

“We have reached the goal as a community.”

Freya announced the money had been raised during school assembly in front of her peers to a round of applause.

The operation was initially scheduled for November this year but, due to a cancellation, they have been moved forward to March 12. They will arrive in St Louis on March 9 and leave on April 6, during which time Freya will also undergo a month of intensive physiotherapy to build up her strength and familiarity with muscles she previously been prevented from using.

Ms Woolford said: “As Freya hasn’t been using the correct parts of her body to walk, she will be weak after the operation, which is why the therapy is so important. Everybody’s outcome after operation is not the same but Freya is already strong and works extremely hard so it is unlikely that she will need any walking assistance at all.

“For someone with a disability her physical strength is unbelievable.

“She’s a good sport and always has a go; she took part the school’s Sports Day activities and gave her all.

“She wants to be able to skip with a skipping rope more than anything, that is her dream.

“I just want her to be able to do the things that little girls do.

“At the children’s hospital she will be able to meet people her age with the condition and it will be her first proper trip abroad, so she sees it as a bit of an adventure.

“It is the beginning of something amazing.”