London - Five-year-old Daisy Mason is showing off her aptitude for Spanish: "Uno, dos, tres, cuatro..."
When she reaches 20, her face lights up like the Christmas tree she helped to decorate last week.
Lucy and her husband Aidan share their daughter’s delight, as well they might. To hear your five-year-old count to 20 in a foreign language is special for any mum and dad — but more so for Daisy’s parents, who, when their daughter was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at ten months, were told she would be unlikely to speak a word of English, let alone Spanish.
"I couldn’t stop cuddling her when the consultant told us," says Lucy.
"Cerebral palsy is rated on a scale of one to five, where five is the worst. Daisy is a four. Normally children of her level don’t have an intellect, don’t speak and are tube-fed. We were told Daisy would do hardly anything, that she’d probably just spend her life lying there." She points to the sofa.
"We were really upset... but not for long." She looks at Aidan, who nods encouragingly. ‘"t’s up to the parents," he says. "If you’re going to be depressed about it, that will rub off on your child. We don’t have 'down moments'. Why should we?"
Why indeed.
Daisy, after all, is the little ray of sunshine who endeared herself to millions when she became the first child in a wheelchair to feature in Channel 4’s The Secret Life of Five Year Olds. Indeed, this incredible little girl soon emerged as the star of the BAFTA-nominated series, as she demonstrated all the sheer joy to be had from life, irrespective of disabilities.
Her parents hope her participation in the series has raised awareness for disabled children everywhere, showing us their potential to flourish however grim the prognosis. And that is why they are giving this searingly honest interview at their home near King’s Lynn in Norfolk.
And, make no mistake, Lucy, 36, and 30-year-old Aidan have had to fight tooth and nail with health professionals to ensure their daughter can have as ‘normal’ a childhood as possible.
"When she was 18 months old she couldn’t walk to the potty but I could carry her," says Lucy. "The NHS physiotherapist said there were more important things to worry about than potty training her, and we should stop because she’d never be able to do it.
"I thought, she’s managed it a few times, I’ll carry on. And by the time she started school she was fine.
"When she was preparing for 'big school', the physiotherapist told nursery staff I was 'expecting too much'. Her exact words were, 'she is not accepting of her diagnosis'.
"This woman had only seen Daisy a handful of times. I was horrified. I am so 'accepting of her diagnosis'but we have to give her the best life she can have. We began to see a private physiotherapist after that."
Daisy has defied the expectations of NHS health professionals time and again. She has been in mainstream education for more than a year and is one of the best in her class at reading. She also swims, cycles on a specially adapted bike, and goes riding at the Magpie Centre riding school for the disabled.
"That girl is the most precious thing in Norfolk," says Jeffrey Carter, 78, a voluntary worker at the riding school.
She is also, as her mother says, "a little fighter", not just in the inspirational way she contends with her disabilities but by the very fact she is here at all.