Charlotte Cleverley-Bisman hasn't let her disability stop her having fun.
Charlotte Cleverley-Bisman hasn't let her disability stop her having fun.
It has been just over a decade since Charlotte Cleverley-Bisman captured the hearts of the country when she lost her limbs to meningococcal disease.
Now, aged 11, she has started at intermediate school.
Charlotte has a fascination with all things on wheels and continues to push herself to the limit.
"Changing people's perspective of what she's capable of and what a disabled person should be doing - according to society - has been really difficult," her father Perry Bisman says.
"But the only people who disable Charlotte are other people."
Charlotte Cleverley-Bisman hasn't let her disability stop her having fun.
Since losing her arms and legs at just 7 months old, in 2004, Charlotte has gone on to learn to move around on a skateboard and, later, to walk on prosthetic legs.
She attends Camp No Limits, in the US, which specifically helps to motivate young people with limb loss.
Last August, while at camp, she learned to run on prosthetic blades - the first time she had been able to do so.
This weekend, she will push herself once more in an extreme sports adventure in which she will jump out of a plane, go surfing and zip down a flying fox on Waiheke.
She will be joined by New Zealand Paralympian double gold medallist swimmer Cameron Leslie and American tri-amputee and motivational speaker Cameron Clapp.
Leslie's family have known Charlotte since she was a toddler, after her parents approached them in a bid to understand how they coped with his condition: congenital quadruple limb deficiency.
Clapp, 29, has been a good friend to Charlotte and her parents, including mother Pam Cleverley, since their daughter was 4.
Clapp lost both his legs and his right arm after being struck by a train in September, 2001. He had been going home from a 9/11 memorial service.
Mr Bisman said: "Cameron Clapp is such an inspiration to Charlotte. When we were at camp last time, he said to her, 'Leave your skateboard. We're going to walk.' It took them a couple of hours, and every 20 to 30 feet she'd sit down and say, 'Nah, I'm not going any further.'
"He'd sit down too and say, 'Come on, Charlotte, you can do it. No pain, no gain.' And she did it."
The trio's first adventure will be held at Skydive Auckland on Friday, followed by surfing at Piha on Saturday, then zipping down the flying fox at Waiheke the next day.
Charlotte
• Born November 24, 2003.
• Lost all four limbs after contracting meningococcal septicemia at 7 months old.
