Brave Little Real Life Tinkerbell


A Battling little girl, nicknamed Tinkerbell after the fairy that never speaks, could get the possibility to meet her namesake in Disneyland Paris after her story touched the hearts of a city charity.

The Rudolf Fund, which takes unique children on a Christmas trip of a lifetime to the resort, has urged the parents of Cheyanne Ferreday (3) to apply for a place on next year’s trip after reading about her plight in The Evening Telegraph.

Her dad, Kevin, said: “It would be magnificent. Tinkerbell could meet Tinkerbell.”

Cheyanne, of Oxclose, Bretton, was born with a rare condition which left her with a windpipe so narrow she was not capable to pass a sound through it.

She was lovingly named Tinkerbell by Kevin (37) and her mum Jo (40) after learning to converse through a bell attached to her ankle.

The chronic condition has also left the glossy little girl with a host of medical problems which means she may not survive beyond 16.

She cannot eat properly and if she swallows any liquid Kevin said she could factually “drown” as it goes down into her windpipe and into her lungs.

Cheyanne has battled pneumonia four times and suffers from epilepsy. Kevin said: “When Cheyanne was born doctors said she wouldn’t make the night. Then they said she wouldn’t make the week, then the month.

“When she reached her first birthday the doctor phoned and apologized and when she got to her second birthday he couldn’t trust it.

She was lastly given the gift of speech after having the 43rd operation of her short life last week.

During the procedure, her windpipe was effectively widened using cartilage from her ribs.

A nasal tube which helped her eat was also replaced with a gastric feeding tube, meaning she is at present able to eat a meal without vomiting most of it back up.
Bookmark and Share