A mother has praised the 'heartwarming' actions of a group of girls who intervened to help her daughter after she was ridiculed at a park.
Vernice Jones had brought six-year-old Pixie Rose, who has Down syndrome, to enjoy the playground following school pick-up. Aware that she attracts 'stares', Vernice described it as 'a massive worry' to visit an unfamiliar location, but she hadn't anticipated her daughter being taunted by youngsters only slightly older.
'Normally we go to the same park, which is local to our house, but I had a day off so I picked her up from school and went to a park a bit closer,' said Vernice. 'It's always a massive worry for me because I know that when people don't know her, she gets stared at.'
'She's in a trolley because she struggles walking, or in a pram, but she's getting a little big for that now, and some girls were laughing and pointing and stuff at her.'
The mother of four explained she approached and addressed the adults supervising the girls, saying: 'They brought them over, but they didn't really do much after that, there was no apology or anything.'
However, it was the response from another young group of girls present at the park that truly touched Vernice, who is employed in Early Years. 'We'd seen these other girls and they let Pixie on the seesaw and I said thank you for being really kind with Pixie. I explained what had happened and one of the girls said "I don't understand why they were laughing, she's just human like us", which was a big thing for me from girls at primary school, it was really lovely.'
'Sometimes we do get laughs and stares and people pointing at her, which is really sad, so to hear that was really heartwarming and really lovely just to understand there are children out there that know that not every child is the same, that children are different and unique and Pixie definitely is that.'
Vernice reveals life has been an uphill battle for them and they almost lost Pixie entirely when she went into cardiac arrest at merely four months old. 'We've spent her whole life fighting and she's spent her whole life fighting,' she said. 'The cardiac arrest led to open heart surgery so we lost her for a short while.'
'Not long after that, I passed my driving test to get to appointments, which are quite often now, and then she had her mobility car taken off her, so we were fighting that. And we were fighting to get Pixie into a school that she needed to be in, so life has just been hard in general.'
She described her daughter, who is hard of hearing and wears hearing aids, as 'a cheeky little girl who is always so happy and brings joy to so many lives' including her two sisters Madison, 20 and Poppy, 17, as well as 13-year-old brother Rocco. 'Pixie lives with myself, her dad Martin and her siblings, who have always been her biggest supporters right from birth when she was a birth diagnosis, so quite a shock for us.'
'They are the most favourite people in her life. She loves them so much and they love her and have her back always.'
Despite facing several health challenges, Pixie, a Year 1 pupil at Royal Cross Primary School for Deaf Children in Preston, is making excellent progress in her studies, where every lesson is delivered in British Sign Language, a language she has now fully mastered.
She has a passion for swimming and is a member of a special needs cheerleading squad at Infinity Cheer in Leyland. Her parents have been informed that she will require further heart surgery in the future, though no timeline has been given.
'Pixie likes to go swimming on a Sunday morning as she struggles with pains in her legs due to hypermobility and physio have said this will help her,' said her mum, who is appealing the decision to remove Pixie's mobility car. 'She also goes cheerleading. It's the one hobby I've found that's inclusive so she sees people just like her and the exercises she does also help the pains she gets in her legs.'
After the incident at Lostock Hall Park, Vernice posted some information on social media, hoping to track down the parents of the young girls who intervened. 'They were so lovely with her! I just wanted to let you know you have done a great job of raising them!' she said in the post.
A couple of parents came forward to explain their daughters had been part of the group and had told them about 'the cute little girl on the park'. Leanne Yates, whose 10 year old daughter Elissa was one of them, explained: 'She told me when she got home from the park that she had been playing with a cute little girl on the park and that others were being nasty. She didn't see that she had done anything special as everyone should be treated the same.'
Sharon Romain, whose daughter Thea Schultz, also 10, was part of the group alongside friends Phoebe Blaney and Scarlett Millen-ward, said: 'I am extremely proud of her and although I do feel it should be the norm for all, she does have the compassion and kindness to others.'
Pixie has already become somewhat of a TikTok sensation, boasting over 16,000 followers on her Pixies Down syndrome journey account. Vernice revealed she took a break from the platform for a period after receiving some unpleasant messages from trolls, but has now returned and is spreading positivity once more. 'People say daily that she helps them get through their day and puts a smile on their face, which I really love,' she said. 'She came off for a little while, as it was round the time she lost her mobility car so a lot was going on, but we had so many messages off people saying that Pixie brought joy to them as they had lost their children with Down syndrome and Pixie gives them a reason to smile, so I felt it was only fair I share her smile with the world.'
