Family receives life-changing gift from charitable trust

A family says the generosity of a Weston-super-Mare-based charitable trust has had a huge positive impact on their lives.

The Axentis Michael Charitable Trust paid for a Maclaren buggy for eight-year-old Lexie, who has hyper mobility and sensory processing difficulties.

Lexie’s mum, Lucy Birkhead, 34, a mobile hairdresser who lives with partner Adam Hallett in St George’s on the edge of Weston, said the buggy has made a massive difference to their lives. Lucy, who also has two sons, Taylor, five, and Preston, two, said: “Going out as a family has always been very challenging because Lexie cannot walk very far at all, and gets sensory overload a lot.”

Lucy said the Maclaren buggy was completely out of the family’s price range, but she then heard about the Axentis Michael Charitable Trust, thought another disability charity, DIAL.

She said: “The trust funded the whole amount and ordered the buggy for us, and it has changed our lives. We are able to go out to a farm for the day at Christmas as a family, and see Santa, and Lexie thoroughly enjoyed the day. We are so grateful and so happy that the trust was able to help us, I can’t thank them enough. The buggy has helped us immensely.”

The Axentis Michael Charitable Trust which started life as a memorial to remember and honour the life of local hotelier Axentis Michael, who died in 2003. It raises and distributes funds to worthy causes in the surrounding area and has raised and distributed more than £1 million so far.

Alex Demetriou, from the Trust, said: “We are all about trying to make a positive difference to the lives of local families. Lexie was in need of a larger pushchair to suit her needs, but these are expensive items and this was beyond the reach of her family. “It’s very satisfying to hear that the new buggy has made such a positive difference, not only to Lexie herself but her whole family.”