Billingshurst mum: ‘I just want to do the things others take for granted’

Forty-two-year-old Sarah Zachariades - who was born with cerebral palsy - is trying to raise funds for a new piece of equipment that will help her to realise her dream of becoming more mobile.

“It would make it possible for me to do the things that others take for granted, like enjoying the outdoors, taking my dogs for a walk or popping to the shops with my kids,” she said.

Sarah, who has lived in Billingshurst for the past 10 years, cannot walk or stand at all and sometimes has difficulties with hand and arm movements.

She is hoping to raise £5,400 to buy a ‘handbike’ - a piece of equipment that would attach to her wheelchair and allow her to power herself along. A friend has set up a ‘Gofundme’ page to help raise the money.

“Billingshurst is very hilly,” said Sarah, “and to use the chair alone is quite difficult.

“I am quite isolated in the house a lot of the time.”

Sarah said the handbike was a hybrid which meant that it could be used as an electric machine. “I’d be able to use power if I needed it to get up a hill,” she said.

Sarah has been a single mum to her three teenage children for most of their lives after her husband Andriko, who suffered from muscular dystrophy, died in 2007.

She is desperately hoping that by getting more mobile with the longed-for new equipment she can improve her general overall physical and mental health.

To help Sarah see: https://www.gofundme.com/f/please-help-raise-money-for-a-specialised-bike?utm_medium=more&utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_na+share-sheet&pc_code=null&rcid=f82bc399de2d48d9a3590be2a216b1ed