Cerebral palsy sufferer Angel Henderson inspiring Mark Winterbottom’s Bathurst campaign
WHEELCHAIR-BOUND teenager Angel Henderson idolises Mark Winterbottom, and the joy on her face when she met her hero has had a profound impact on the star, who has been inspired to win for her at Bathurst.
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ROARING V8 engines shake Mount Panorama, but the most profound sound is heard in the joyous wail of teenager Angel Henderson when she meets idol Mark Winterbottom.
Suffering cerebral palsy, the wheelchair-bound 17-year-old has difficulty speaking, but her smile and cry of delight upon meeting a man she’s watched race on television for a decade makes clear this is one of her happiest days in a life of challenges and limitations.
Sandy Henderson was just 15 years old when she gave birth to Angel.
“My mum had eight kids, all of her kids have been on welfare, they all thought I was going to travel down the same road,” Sandy said.
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“When I had Angel, my stepdad, just out of general conversation, was like ‘Why haven’t you given her up yet?’ because he was curious. I said ‘Why would I? She’s mine’.
“And over the years I’ve found out how to keep my head above water.
“I had her when I was 15, I was a single mum right up until the time I met my husband.
“I was in a foster home myself, I never knew my mum or dad.
“I’d moved back in with my mum when I was 13, when I was 15, my mum married my stepdad, she kicked me out when I was pregnant.
“I went up to Queensland and met my stepdad, they’ve helped me out with Angel.
“We’ve all gone our separate ways now.”
But when they lived with Sandy’s stepdad, Angel saw motor racing for the first time on television in 2010, and immediately took a shine to the man known as “Frosty”.
“It started when she was about seven, her and her grandfather used to sit there and watch TV, I think it’s always been Frosty too,” Sandy said.
“When I met my husband he was a Jamie Whincup fan and he used to bag Frosty, and Angel would scream at him.
“She’d be going off her head, I’d run into the room thinking something had happened, then I’d see the racing on and those two at it and I’d be out of there.”
So when the Make-A-Wish Foundation visited Angel three months ago and asked what she’d love to experience, her head kept turning towards the car race on television.
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They organised for the family to watch their first live event in the premier event on the calendar in Bathurst.
Sandy and husband Steven Edwards, Angel, daughters Hope Henderson (13) and Alexis Edwards (seven), and son Tyson Edwards (five), made the 12-hour drive from Queensland.
“Me personally, it’s like watching cars go round in circles, I don’t like it,” Sandy said.
“But she will watch it in bed, if dad’s watching the V8s in the lounge room and she’s having a lazy day but can hear it is on, she’ll crack it until we walk in and turn it over to the V8s.
“Every time she sees Frosty on TV she’ll scream.
“She’ll always remember this.
“She got a poster, I’ll laminate that and stick it up. I am going put the hat he gave her in a glass box in her room.”
Renee Winterbottom couldn’t help but cry when watching Angel’s reaction to meeting her husband.
“I had tears in my eyes, her expression said it all, that beautiful infectious smile,” she said.
“And her name, Angel, she really is a special girl.”
Winterbottom added: “If you can help out and make someone’s day, it’s far more than sport.
“We’re all thinking about results, but sometimes things are more rewarding than what happens on track.
“Everyone in our sport complains about under-steer or over-steer and all the stuff that goes with it, but you’ve got to look at the big picture of life.
“We’re lucky we’ve got two healthy kids, but not everyone is that fortunate.”
When he puts pedal to the metal on Sunday in a bid to claim the most extraordinary Bathurst victory in history from 19th spot, Winterbottom will have Angel’s smile embedded in his mind.
“They want you win, so you can’t let them down,” Winterbottom said.
As Winterbottom left to finalise preparations for the race, Angel mustered all of her strength to say the two words that made him realise he was already victorious: “Thank you”.
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