Like many seven-year-olds Isabel Palmer loves nothing more than spending time outdoors but a rare genetic disorder makes trips to the park a challenge.
The Gosnells girl was one of about 30 people worldwide with ring chromosome 9 and was believed to be the only case in Australia.
The condition means she cannot communicate verbally, needs a wheelchair, has vision impairment and has difficulty breathing.
Isabel’s mother Brie said while she loved being outdoors her condition made it difficult.
To help Isabel, children’s charity Make-a-Wish has launched a crowd funding campaign to build a sensory garden in the family’s backyard.
“She has high medical needs so you need to pack all this equipment just to take her down to the shops or go for a walk in the park,” Ms Palmer said.
“It will just be nice to have it at home where she can have her own little area to escape and do her thing because she just loves being outside, she loves the fresh air and the sun.
“She smiles, she laughs and she’s just happy when she’s outside, you can see the difference in her mood when she’s outside instead of being trapped within four walls.”
Ms Palmer said ideally the sensory garden would engage Isabel with different noises and things she could touch.
“She’s very tactile, she loves to touch things so we want plants you can touch with different feelings and plants that smell nice,” she said.
“She likes sound as well because she’s visually impaired so we’re hoping for things like wind chimes and other things that make sounds so maybe a big xylophone or anything else that she can interact with outdoors.”
Ms Palmer said finding out Isabel’s diagnosis after she was born had been terrifying but she now felt lucky her daughter had a wish that could be fulfilled.
“When she was born (doctors) noticed some features, like her ears were a bit lower on her head and her fingers were a little bit rounded on the ends,” she said.
“They didn’t really say much until the next day when she got transferred to Princess Margaret hospital.
“That’s where they explained that she had a lot of things going on that could be caused by something chromosomal.”
Ms Palmer said it wasn’t until five days later that doctors were able to diagnose Isabel with ring chromosome 9.
“The doctors said they didn’t know what was going to happen or what she was going to do so it would be a learning step for all of us and they would be learning about it as we did,” she said.
“From there it was just step at a time but it was hard.
“Now I just feel lucky that she has a wish and I hope people give to Make-a-Wish so that they can keep fulfilling children’s wishes.”
Make-a-Wish hoped to raise between $10,000 and $15,000.
For more information or to donate visit startsomegood.com/Isabelswish.
