Banbury schoolgirl with rare condition raises money for charity by holding cake sale

Year 9 Chenderit School student Bethany O'Keeffe was born with Moebius Syndrome and wanted to use the cake sale to raise awareness of the condition.

She also donated the £100 raised from the cake sale to the Moebius Research Trust charity to fund vital research.

Bethany said: “There are not a lot of people with Moebius Syndrome living in the UK, with only around 200 cases, so it’s important to raise awareness.

“I feel proud to have organised this cake sale and to help the charity because there is not a lot known about Moebius Syndrome.”

Cakes of all varieties and flavours were on sale, with several students bringing in treats their parents had made the night before.

A team of sixth formers from the school also turned their hand to baking and were on hand to help out on the busy cake stall.

Moebius Syndrome is a rare condition that affects the facial nerves and results in those born with the condition being unable to control facial expression or eye movement.

However, despite the condition, Bethany has not let it hold her back and regularly participates in sports at clubs at the school.

Speaking about living with the condition, Bethany said: “I can’t move my eyes from left to right or use facial expressions to express emotion, so I have to use body language to show emotions.”

The condition also makes it hard for Bethany to swallow food or cough, but she says the staff at Chenderit have provided excellent support for her in the three years she has attended the Middleton Cheney school.

One of Bethany’s teaching assistants, Ashley Simmons, plays a big part in supporting Bethany’s education and also helped to organise the cake sale.

Ashley said: “It was Bethany’s idea and as her teaching assistant, I’m here to make sure her goals and dreams happen.

“Bethany is very passionate about Moebius Syndrome and making people aware of the syndrome, so it was just putting her dreams into action.

“The whole school is very supportive of Bethany and the cake sale. Chenderit is a community with many of the cakes being made by parents of students from the school.”

Headteacher at Chenderit School Chris Billings added: “We are incredibly proud of Bethany for organising the cake sale; she’s done a great job.

“She is totally self-motivated and has rallied people and planned and organised it all by herself. Moebius Syndrome is something she lives with every day, but she doesn’t let it impede her or affect how she is in school.

“She is a constant delight when she’s in school, so for us to be able to go a small way to support Bethany and what she wants to do is a real privilege for us as a school.”

Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day is an international event marked on January 24, the birth date of Professor Paul Julius Moebius who first diagnosed the condition in 1888.

For more information about Moebius Syndrome, including how to donate to fund valuable research on the rare condition, visit: https://www.moebiusresearchtrust.org/