Jen's off to the club with her mates

Thanks to her new state-of-the-art wheelchair, Jen Carter is now able to party in style, so Eastbourne had better watch out tomorrow night when her girls' night out hits town.

Jen, who lives in Warwick Road with Yvonne Heritage and family, recently took delivery of the 15,500 chair, and is experiencing new freedom - she has been to visit boyfriend Matt at his home in Broadbridge Heath, and spent seven hours in the chair without any pain relief.

Said Yvonne: "The chair will hugely improve Jen's quality of life. Previously Jen could not travel too far from home as she would be in pain, and have to get out of her chair for a lie down.

"In this new chair Jen can have her position changed at the touch of a button to lie back for travelling, or even to stand upright."

She will be enjoying another night out when she goes to see Brian McFadden perform in Brighton; she will still be able to see the stage when everyone else stands up because she can now be raised up in height.

"The chair is going to open her life up. The girls are planning to take her to London and we have booked to go to Eurodisney Paris.

"She was not able to go for trips in her other chair, she couldn't sit in it for more than a couple of hours. Now we can just position her to be comfortable."

It took six months to raise the funds needed to buy the chair, with help coming from many directions such as the Parchment Trust, Greenwoods adult respite centre in Dalmeny Road, and the Mercy Union Generalate group of nuns.

It was far from certain that Jen would ever see her 21st birthday but as Yvonne comments: "she totally outdoes expectation. She is amazing."

Jen suffered meningitis at the age of 10 months, resulting in lasting damage; she cannot walk, talk, or sit up by herself.

"Originally she just came to us for the weekend - for respite, I just wanted to help out. That was 14 years ago. I blame my husband Paul; he had never before had any contact with anyone with special needs and he just fell in love with her.

"Jen fitted in with our whole family; I have two other children Jenna and Craig. She is just one of us."

"When she first came to us at the age of seven she was quite healthy, then around 12-13 she started getting abdominal problems ending up with a perforated stomach ulcer.

"She was blue-lighted to Brighton where she was put on life support for a little while.

"But she bounced back. We were told her gut would cease to function within five years. That was four years ago, but she is totally proving them wrong now because her health is just getting better and better. One of these days we will be celebrating her 40th birthday, and that will be another good knees-up."