16-year-old given new lease of life thanks to wheelchair donation from Cashino in Putney

Thanks to CHIPS Charity and the joint fundraising efforts of customers and staff at Cashino in Putney, 16-year-old Salma Mussa has been presented with a new powered wheelchair, which will allow her to join classmates on weekly community visits and trips.

Cashino, which operates 165 adult gaming centres across the country, is one of the main fundraisers for CHIPS, a charity set up on behalf of the casino and gaming industry, which provides specialised wheelchairs for children with severe mobility problems.

Salma, who lives in North London with her mum, Hayat, was diagnosed with meningitis at an early age, which damaged her nervous system. As a result, Salma suffers from a foot condition called fixed plantar flexion in which the sole of the foot is distinctly hollow when bearing weight and therefore she can only stand for short periods at any one time, meaning she spends most of her time in a manual wheelchair.

Salma’s mum, Hayat, said: “As Salma has to spend most of the day in a wheelchair, she misses out on so many opportunities and taking part in normal day activities with her friends, and so gets very down. When CHIPS and Cashino offered this amazing gift, we were absolutely over the moon. This new chair will give her the support she needs to not only participate in school trips, explore the community more and spend more time with her friends socially, but also boost her confidence and mean she won’t feel left out anymore. We’re so thankful to CHIPS and Cashino for this wheelchair; it will really make a difference to Salma’s life.

Cashino Putney venue manager, Mo, said: “It’s such a proud moment to know that our fundraising efforts are going to make such a huge difference to Salma and her family’s life. She’s such a lovely young woman who thoroughly deserves this powered wheelchair.”

One of the co-founders of CHIPS charity Linda Lindsay said: “It is so important for CHIPS that our donors see the results of their hard work, and we try to ensure that all the recipients are local to where the funds have been raised. Cashino and parent company Praesepe have been amazing, and have donated £1.2 million allowing CHIPS to provide more than 150 wheelchairs up and down the country.”

In total CHIPS has raised more than £2.2 million to date and presented over 520 wheelchairs to children throughout the UK.