Appeal launched to help family of 'happiest smiliest' Hucknall girl Elle-Paige

Elle-Paige Gibson, 18, died earlier this month after a long battle against a number of illnesses and disabilities.

Now, her family want to raise the money to buy the special mobility car they used while Elle was alive.

The car was specially adapted to allow Elle’s wheelchair to fit into it and her mum Nicola says owning the car outright would be a fitting memorial to Elle.

Nicola said: She was one of the happiest, smiliest little girls you could ever meet.

"She was 18 but she will always be our little girl to us.

"There was never a dull moment when Elle was about, there was always a smile on her face.”

"Elle had a number of complex conditions, she had severe epilepsy and she was wheelchair-bound.

"She had scoliosis of her back and in the past she suffered two heart attacks and had a stroke in 2019 which left her unable to eat and no use of her left side.

"The last year, she really deteriorated up to the point in March when she went into hospital at King’s Mill and they said she’d got type 2 respiratory failure and it was only a matter of time and there was nothing more they could do for her.

"So we got her home for the last four weeks and sadly she passed away on April 10.”

Now, the family have started a fundraising appeal to buy outright the special family car they were hiring to help take Elle out.

Nicola continued: “We got the car through mobility and we’re paying monthly to use it.

"It was bigger than normal so we could fit Elle’s wheelchair in and we want to keep it as it was the last thing Elle went in.

"She went in that car to the hospital, came back out, came home in it and that was it, she never went outside again.

"The car’s a car but it was a family car and it would just mean a lot to be able to keep it as it meant so much to Elle too.”

To support the fund, click here.