Caring young man to make dream come true for young Milton Keynes girl with quadriplegic cerebral palsy

A caring young man has vowed to make a seemingly impossible bike-riding dream come true for a young girl with quadriplegic cerebral palsy.

Bella-Skye Stokes is 11 and lives with her mum Mel, dad Ben and six-year old brother Rex in Bletchley.

Born almost three months early, she suffered group B Strep and meningitis when she was tiny and the lack of oxygen to her brain affected all four of her limbs, as well as her trunk control, speech and eating.

Luke Radwell first met Bella-Skye two years ago and was immediately struck by the youngster’s determination to live as normal a life as possible.

"She’s a beautiful happy little girl.. I instantaneously began thinking that I’d love to be able to try and do something for her,” he said.

Luke spoke with the family who revealed Bella-Skye’s wish to go on a bike ride with her little brother – an impossible feat in her wheelchair.

Now he has vowed to raise £9,000 to buy her a specialist wheelchair tandem bike.

He has set up a JustGiving page and on Saturday he plans to walk 50 miles from Milton Keynes to Great Ormond Street Hospital, where Bella-Skye has received a vast amount of treatment, in exchange for donations.

You can view the page here.

Luke said: “I will walk ‘for her’ and I would really appreciate any donations and sponsors to help make her dreams of her and her family’s inclusive outdoor family time come true.”

Bella-Skye’s mum Mel said: “Her little brother loves going on bike rides, picnics and having races. Bella-Skye can't wait to be apart of the fun.. It will be nice for us all to get out and about together as a family.”

The youngster goes to a specialist school called Pace in Aylesbury.

"She’s attended there since she was three and has absolutely thrived with the help of all the fantastic staff,” said Mel. “They have speech and language therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists etc.

"Bella-Skye absolutely loves school and goes off on the school bus cheering. She loves music, theatre, animals.”