Student determined to walk independently

English and Theatre Studies student Jessi Parrott, who suffers from cerebral palsy, has made it her goal to walk independently to collect her degree in 2013, and is hoping to raise £2,013 for children’s charity Starlight at the same time.

Parrott has so far raised £300 in three days.

She chose to use the challenge to raise money for the charity that helped her through a difficult time in her life.

“I’ve always wanted to walk independently but I’ve never done so”, she commented.

“I was determined it would happen, until the age of 14, when things started to go downhill. I’m on the up again and I’ve realised that medical opinion is so diverse that nobody really knows what could happen – so I might as well take my determination back.”

Parrott suffers from cerebral palsy and has been in a wheelchair for most of her life.

After enduring a difficult time in 2008, she was referred to the charity Starlight, a charity that grants wishes to seriously ill children, which Parrott attributes to helping her through the tough period.

In 2010, the charity granted her wish to meet her idol, Keira Knightley.

“It’s truly thanks to them that I’m even at Warwick today, let alone planning to walk to collect my degree. Naturally I want to give something back,” she said.

Starlight is known as one of the UK’s biggest ‘small charities’ as it isn’t very well known, “but the wishes that they grant make such a huge difference to the lives of sick children,” she added.

“I desperately want to give something back to the charity who helped me, so they can change other children’s lives, and I can’t think of a more fitting way to do so than as part of a journey on which they have been so important,” she has written on her JustGiving page.

She is currently 15 percent of the way to her target amount, raising awareness via social media and a blog, which she hopes to update on a daily basis, recording milestones and reflecting on her goals, which include to run next year’s Cancer Research UK Race for Life.

She will be blogging about her experiences at www.walkingby2013.blogspot.com and you can donate to Starlight via her JustGiving page at www.justgiving.com/walkingby2013.