Concert for little Clara to raise research cash
When little Clara Bonasera was born she appeared to be your average inquisitive baby – until, at just 15 months old, she started showing signs of a rare neurological disorder.
The youngster, of Highfields, near The Column in Shrewsbury, was diagnosed with Rett Syndrome – caused by a single faulty gene – which has left her unable to walk, talk, or use her hands.
Clara has lived with the condition, which affects one in 15,000 girls worldwide, ever since, leaving the eight year old profoundly disabled and highly dependent on her supportive family.
National charity Rett Syndrome Research Trust UK is now funding research that could eventually lead to a cure for Clara, who attends Severndale Specialist School in Monkmoor.
A Concert for Clara will be held at Shrewsbury RC Cathedral, on Town Walls, later this month to raise vital funds for research and to raise awareness locally.
Grandfather Dave Hewetson, 62, said: "Clara was developing normally and doing all the things a little girl of that age would be doing until the age of 15 months when she suddenly started regressing and so it was even more traumatic for the family.
"You always learn to adapt and get on with what life throws at you and Clara has given her mother the same joy that any other little girl would."
Mum-of-two Shona said: "The awful thing is that it's actually as common as Cystic Fibrosis but people don't seem to know about it."
The concert takes place on Friday, November 23, at 7.30pm and features mixed voice choir Of One Accord and the Shropshire Girls Choir. Tickets are priced at £6 – or £4 for under16s, students and disabled – and are available from Theatre Severn Box Office on (01743) 281281, or the Old Market Hall in The Square.
To donate to the cause to go www.justgiving.com/Dave-Hewetson1
