Life Story

Charlotte was born in UCH on the 08.12.1991, she was 7lb 6 0z, had spiky black hair, and was 10 days late she got the hang of catching attention right from the first moment.

Charlotte’s first nick name was ‘wild child’ she was the noisiest baby I have ever met, but her smile was very quick in coming and melted everyone. She couldn’t say her name but would never admit it, so she called herself "La La".

She mastered her name quickly but corrected anyone using it, saying, my name is charlotte but I am called La La. The Teletubbies hit the scene about a year later and she was delighted until she found out LaLa was a girl, her favourite was then Po but refused to have anything more to do with them when she realised Po carried a handbag. The many nick names grew from there.

She loved water and was swimming underwater with me at the local pool before she was a week old at the mother and toddler postnatal classes. She started swimming classes when she was 5 years old and managed to persuade the local pool to let her attend the diving class (before she could swim properly) she had no fear whatsoever and did brilliantly, although it was very difficult for me to watch, she was half the size of the others.

Charlotte was walking at 10 months, with blonde hair and an inexhaustible energy supply; she loved to create caves from tables, chairs anything and gave the cat hell trying to catch it.

We tried to dress her up in pink and pretty, but it never lasted long. Charlotte was, as far as she was concerned, a boy and her name was Charles, you could call her Charlie, she wore only boys clothes, pants, socks, everything. She played football and played with boys only (Georgia was ok because she was out of school and did not tell if she brought her doll)

Charlotte loved the Disney movies, Aladdin and the Lion King were her favourites.

Before nursery, Charlotte had two best friends, Georgia and Moaaz. Moaaz and Laly played two main games between the ages of 2 and 4yrs. The main one was The Lion King: Mo was Nala and Laly was Simba, they used to re enact the film or just tear around chasing each other with charlotte barking out the orders and Mo following. They totally adored each other and would play at getting married often, Charlotte was always the groom and Mo wore the wedding dress.  Charlotte was adept at peeing like a boy; I had to put a stop to that one!!

Charlotte has an affinity with little boys, Lucca is 6yrs her junior and has been adamant since the day he could talk that he will marry her. She hasn’t promised yet, but he will have to get in line.

Charlotte’s primary school class had some very strong characters’ and for a couple of years the girls singled out one girl and bullied them in the way only girls can. Charlotte played with the boys mainly but had a couple of girls she played with; she would not stand by and would stand up to the bullies on behalf of her friends. There followed a year where Charlottes life became a misery when the ringleader concentrated on Charlotte and banned anyone from playing with her.

She ended up having counselling and family therapy. We had moved from Crouch End to Tottenham and Charlotte insisted that she went to the local secondary school with her friends in the area. I agreed and she started at a brand new school, Park View Academy.

We had lived in Tottenham for a year, Charlotte made friends and played with them in the street - we had been there nearly a year before I realised she had convinced the whole neighbourhood she was a boy!

The main nicknames at this stage were "GSTAR", "Baby G", and "Lady G", the rap music was growing and she was a mean drummer, especially with the steel pans. The dancing began to take on very womanly turns although the clothing was and is still sweat shirts and sports gear, only now it had to be labels. She gathered around her a huge gang which protected her and made her feel safe in Tottenham, some much older, wanting her to join in their bands etc. School became second priority and was missed frequently.

We moved to West London where she started Brentford School for girls and after a while Charlotte settled in well. She has a lot of friends in the north of London as well as the west.

She will be starting year 10 in September, or as near as possible and they have been very supportive and are hoping to get her a laptop to start practising with her left hand.

I haven’t been able to convey what an incredible child Charlotte is; she is so loving and caring and hasn’t had it easy for lots of reasons. The courage strength and determination she is showing through this devastating disease is remarkable, she remains lovely to the nurses and grateful for their care, asking about themselves interested in their families and lives and ready to work hard to get better.

In her illness she has turned again to the familiar videos of childhood, the doctors and nurses scoured all their friends and families to bring her the ones she asked for, one of the sisters said she would watch out for Charlottes name in the future because she is convinced she is a character that will stand out because of her innate qualities.