Disabled Edinburgh girl's dream comes true as she enjoys the prom that might never have happened
Sophie Docherty has just graduated from Oaklands School - but because she was the only P7-leaver the school had no plans to put on a dance to mark the occasion.However, her family and community rallied round to give her an opportunity to celebrate, complete with horse-drawn carriage and glass slippers.Sophie, from Royston, has complex disabilities which require round-the-clock care.Mum Caroline Docherty, 39, said was determined to give her daughter a “normal prom experience” just like her big sister Amanda had when she left primary school.And she decided to throw Sophie her very own prom, with P7 children from Oaklands, Braidburn School, and Granton Primary School all invited.Since the cost was beyond Caroline as a single parent, godmother Irene Guild set up a GoFundMe page to raise the £1500 needed to put on the dance.Donations rolled in and the fundraising effort netted a total of £1650 from over 100 donors over a four-week period, which meant the prom was able to go ahead at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre on Saturday.Sophie had her hair, makeup and nails done at 9am, and dressed in a special purple ball gown covered in sequins, hand sewn by her mum Caroline,Caroline explained: “Sophie is visually impaired but the sequins are easier for her to see, she loves anything sparkly.” Sophie arrived in a horse and carriage at noon, accompanied my her mum, sister Amanda, 19, and wee brother Adam, who is five. And she walked down the red carpet and into the community centre, wearing her special glass slippers or “Cinderella shoes”.The dancing started at noon and went on till 3pm, the hall fully kitted out with balloons, tuck shop and DJ. Caroline said the event had been a huge success. “It went perfectly,” she said. “It was absolutely amazing. Sophie had been looking forward to it and talking about it all the time, asking how many more days there were to go.“She was so excited on the day - she loved every minute of it. And she had a really good time. She was in her wheelchair for some of the time, spinning round and dancing with everyone. I was quite emotional - but they were happy tears.”Godmother Irene, who spent a hectic 24 hours before the event organising the decoration of the hall with balloons and displays, said the prom had gone “brilliantly”. She said: “It was absolutely superb. There was a last-minute scare about whether Sophie’s shoes would arrive in time - they sent black ones instead of glittery, so we had to get them changed - but it was all right in the end.“And Sophie got what she really deserved, which was her prom.“The support from the community has been completely overwhelming, everyone has come together to help pull this off.”