Cara gets sweet surprise with new den

Cara gets sweet surprise with new den

14 November 2018

THE sweetest and most perfectly-sized gift has been given to Carryduff girl Cara Mailey.

The nine-year-old has a form of dwarfism which means that living in a standard-sized world can present challenges for her.

Born with achonlasia, Cara dared to dream big and applied last year to have a special den created for her by the team from the popular CBBC programme The Dengineers. 

The plucky and determined child is now the proud owner of a colourful sweet-themed garden den that is ideally sized to suit her height — and her sweet tooth.

Despite the production team swamping the Mailey family home in June to carry out the work, the show was only broadcast on Sunday morning. 

Cara found herself a star attraction at St Joseph’s Primary School, in Carryduff on Monday.

“A lot of people have been telling me I saw you in the newspaper, I saw you on TV,” giggled Cara.

She has made great use of her den since then.

“I play in it most of the time, I sometimes do my homework there and bring in my friends to play or go in just get some sweets and bring them into the house,” she told the Recorder.

“Having the den makes me feel a lot happier and safer as usually I would be climbing up stuff to reach things but now I can pick them up and don’t have to climb up to get them.”

Cara’s infectious personality shone through in the programme as did her determinism to try out everything despite her stature.

Her love of sweets are shown in the den’s decor which has Gummy Bear windows, a roof made of strawberry laces, a Coca-Cola-shaped door, a lolly-pop-themed dance floor so Cara can show off her moves and several sweet dispensers that are positioned at reaching height for her.

One of the highlights is a height-adjustable desk that Cara can change to suit as she gets older.

Cara lives with her mum Trish, a P6 teacher at Cedar Tree Integrated School in Crossgar, dad Sean and two year-old brother Noah. 

She shares the same condition with her mum and Noah.

Mrs Mailey is delighted that Cara has this special space to play in.

“I had never had anything like it when I was younger,” she said. For Cara all of the toys or bikes for her age group are all too big or tall for her, so this is brilliant.”

Mrs Mailey said Cara came up with the idea of having a sweet-themed den after attending a birthday party at Aunt Sandra’s Candy Factory in Belfast last year.

“Cara decided herself that she wanted to apply for the Dengineers and I honestly didn’t think she had any chance of getting it as there were over 2,500 applications from throughout the UK,” said Trish.

“Cara did a phone interview with the producers, then a Skype interview, then they came over to spend a day with her and it was all hush hush until we got the call to say she had got it.”

Her parents had to keep the news a secret until presenters Lauren Layfield and Joe Traconi surprised her with the news in May after she won bronze in the 60m sprint at the National Dwarf Games in Birmingham.

Trish added: “A team of four came over in June on a Monday as the den was created by designer Mara Tulip and the big reveal day on the Friday. They were the nicest team and Cara was their number one priority throughout it all.

“Appearing in this programme has given Cara a lot of confidence. There’s no holding her back now.”

The Dengineers is available to watch on the CBBC channel page on BBC iPlayer.