Girl, 11, becoming youngest ever MBE ‘never thought this would happen'
An 11-year-old girl who is the youngest person ever to be made an MBE said she 'never thought anything like this would happen'.
Carmela Chillery-Watson, from Dorset, has LMNA congenital muscular dystrophy – a progressive muscle-wasting condition which affects her movement, heart and lungs – and is becoming a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the King's Birthday Honours for services to charitable fundraising.
She was diagnosed with the condition in 2017, aged three, and in recent years has helped charity Muscular Dystrophy UK raise more than £400,000 by doing around 25 fundraising and awareness campaigns.
'I'm just really ecstatic and surprised that I'm receiving the honour,' Carmela told the PA news agency.
'It's incredible.'
The 11-year-old campaigner has undertaken a variety of challenges, including her Wonder Woman Walk where she walked one kilometre a day and then went another nine kilometres a day in her wheelchair for a month in 2020.
Dressed as her favourite superhero Wonder Woman, Carmela travelled across 30 different places in Cornwall, Somerset, Wiltshire and Surrey to complete the 300-kilometre trek.
She has also carried out a 100-mile walking challenge across the Jurassic Coast in Dorset.
'I have to say, I love all of them,' Carmela said of her various fundraising campaigns. 'They are all so fun.'
She also teaches exercises online for an optional small donation to help others with muscular dystrophy and similar physical disabilities who are unable to leave their homes or who don't have access to physiotherapy in their area.
Carmela said people from as far away as Africa and the US have attended her virtual sessions.
She is already an award winner, having been presented with a British Citizen Youth Award Medal of Honour in 2023 for making a positive impact on her community and society more widely.
The Government believes Carmela is the youngest-ever MBE, although it does not hold all the historical data to be able to confirm it.
Tony Hudgell became the youngest person on record to be honoured when he was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) at the age of nine in the 2024 New Year Honours.
Carmela will break paralympic swimmer Ellie Simmonds' record of being the youngest person to become an MBE from 2009 when she was 14 years old.
The 11-year-old said she never looked for an award for her campaigning.
'I never thought anything like this would happen,' she said.
'I just want to make a difference to the disability community, to be able to show them: You're strong, you can do whatever you want.'
Carmela's mother Lucy Chillery-Watson said she was 'bursting with pride' over her daughter becoming an MBE.
'Since the moment she was born she showed true resilience and determination – growing up with health conditions, one after the other,' Ms Chillery-Watson said.
'She's making a huge difference in the world.'
She said her daughter does not let her physical disability stop her.
'She's already thought about her next challenge, she wants to go around UK primary schools to spread inclusivity in amongst the schools for physical disabilities, because Carmela has got her own experiences and in society there's still so much that needs to be done.'
Carmela is very excited at the prospect of meeting a royal at an investiture ceremony.
'Potentially meeting King Charles or Queen Camilla – that is amazing,' she said.
'I mean, that is insane.
'Receiving an MBE is incredible but potentially meeting the King or Queen is even better.'
Carmela's next challenge is her so-called 'Poo Plod' on June 23, when she will walk and wheel five miles dressed as a toilet, with her mum dressed as a poo, to raise money to buy specialist toilets for her school in Poole.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
27 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
NHS patients battling Alzheimer's WON'T be offered 'miracle' drugs as health watchdog rules they are 'too expensive to justify'
Two of the first drugs proven to slow down Alzheimer's disease will be denied to NHS patients from this week - unless they pay to go private. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has refused the 'miracle' drugs lecanemab and donanemab for use on the NHS as they are too expensive to justify. This means over 70,000 patients in England will be denied the 'game-changing' drugs, found to slow cognitive decline by an average of four to seven months, unless they can afford tens of thousands of pounds a year for private treatment. After a positive drug trial in 2022, lecanemab (brand name Leqembi) made by Eisai, and donanemab (marketed as Kisunla), made by Eli Lilly, were proven to clear toxic amyloid protein from the brain and thus slow the underlying cause of dementia. Campaigners hailed it as 'the beginning of the end' of Alzheimer's. Iain Hartnell, Research Communications Officer at Alzheimer's Society, said: 'The MHRA's approval of the first safe and effective Alzheimer's disease treatment, shown to slow progression, is a defining moment for people with early-stage Alzheimer's disease in the UK and a significant step towards a more hopeful future.' Last year, both drugs were given drug licences in the UK by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). But without NICE's recommendation, the groundbreaking medicine will only be available to those with private healthcare. 'It is the end of the road for these drugs on the NHS,' an insider told The Times. Hilary Evans-Newton, the chief executive of Alzheimer's Research UK described the decision as 'deeply disappointing'. She told the publication that it sends 'a damaging signal to the life sciences sector - undermining confidence in the UK as a leader of dementia research, clinical trials and innovation, with knock-on effects for patients and the wider economy'. She added: 'These treatments are not perfect, and we recognise the challenges they pose around cost, delivery and safety. But scientific progress is incremental, and these drugs represent a vital foundation to build on.' The drugs were shown in trials to slow the rate of decline for those with mild to moderate Alzheimer's by an average of four to seven months. Lecanemab, for example, can slow the decline in memory and mental agility by 27 per cent in those with mild Alzheimer's taking the drug compared to people on the dummy drug. The research team also found that the drug reduced loss of quality of life by up to 56 per cent, according to the Alzheimer's Society. Importantly, the drug reduced the amount of amyloid protein present in the brain. Amyloid protein levels were also reduced in the blood and spinal fluid. Experts have long believed donanemab could herald a new era of dementia treatment, after studies showed it slowed the memory-robbing illness in its early stages Lecanemab has already been given the green light in the EU, US, China, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Israel. It is estimated around 70,000 adults in England could eligible for the treatment if approved for use on the health service. Alzheimer's is the most common cause of dementia in the UK. Around 982,000 are currently estimated to be living with dementia UK - although this figure is expected to skyrocket to 1.4million in 2040. Alzheimer's Research UK analysis found 74,261 people died from dementia in 2022, compared to 69,178 a year earlier, making it the country's biggest killer. Recent analysis by the Alzheimer's Society estimates the overall annual cost of the dementia to the UK is £42billion a year, with families bearing the brunt. An ageing population means these costs — which include lost earnings of unpaid carers — are set to soar to £90billion in the next 15 years.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
The secrets to beating the 8am scramble for GP appointments by the people who really know - the receptionists! And at least one of them is VERY surprising...
The secrets to beating the 8am scramble for GP appointments by the people who really know - the receptionists! And at least one of them is VERY surprising... They're often painted as the grim-faced gatekeepers of the overstretched NHS. Manning the phone lines to surgeries, GP receptionists have long borne the brunt of patients' growing frustration with the primary care system.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Sainsburys and Morrisons told to stop advertising heated tobacco
The government has written to Sainsbury's and Morrisons asking them to stop "advertising and promoting" heated tobacco products, which it says is against the BBC reported in February the supermarkets were displaying posters and video screens showing devices which create a nicotine-containing vapour by heating tobacco with an electric the time, both supermarkets said they believed the adverts were response to the letter, Sainsbury's said it was in "close contact with the government", while Morrisons said it would reply "in due course". In 2002, the Labour government under Tony Blair passed a law banning tobacco advertising. It defined a tobacco product as something designed to be "smoked, sniffed, sucked or chewed".Morrisons has argued that this means that it doesn't apply to heated tobacco products, as they don't produce for Philip Morris International's (PMI) iQos heated tobacco device on posters and video screens was still on display in Sainsbury's and Morrisons stores visited by the BBC in June, where they were visible to said it believes the Department of Health's interpretation of the law is wrong, and said it has "complied with all applicable laws and regulations" since it launched iQos in government has now written to the supermarkets clarifying that in its opinion, the law does apply to these products.A Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spokesperson told the BBC: "In May, we wrote to supermarkets reiterating that the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002… applies to all tobacco products currently on the market, and formally requested they stop advertising and promoting heated tobacco products in stores."All tobacco products are harmful to health," the spokesperson added. Surveys by the charity Action on Smoking and Health suggest that awareness of heated tobacco products has risen sharply over the past year, and is even higher among young adults, compared with those over 40. Among 11 to 17-year-olds, nearly a quarter had heard of heated tobacco, up from 7.1% in 2022, the last time they were 3.3% of respondents to their survey said they had tried heated tobacco, and for 11 to 17-year-olds, the figure was 2.7%. While low, the charity said this was still "worryingly similar to the levels of use among adults".Experts say that although research on the health effects of heated tobacco is limited, it is likely to be less harmful than cigarettes, but worse for you than vapes, and less effective at helping smokers heated tobacco products a new health risk?A spokesperson for Morrisons said it was reviewing the letter and would respond "in due course".Sainsbury's said it believed its ads were compliant with the law. A spokesperson said: "We remain in close contact with the government and industry partners and are planning our transition to ensure we also comply with planned incoming legislation."It would be for a court to rule definitively whether the government is right that heated tobacco advertising is banned under current law - but so far no-one has brought a law will be clarified when the government passes the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which is expected to conclusively ban all tobacco and vape advertising and bill is making its way through parliament and is currently at the committee stage in the House of Cheeseman, the chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, urged the government to pass the law as quickly as possible. "It is outrageous that certain supermarkets still do not seem to be prepared to comply with the law, even when told they are in breach."The longer this takes to resolve, the more children will be exposed to tobacco product marketing," she Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act applies UK-wide, but health is a devolved issue. The devolved administrations in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland all said they agreed with the DHSC in England that advertising heated tobacco is and Tesco both said they do not accept tobacco advertising.
