Child of Courage nominee – Eden Birch

Child of Courage nominee – Eden Birch

Eden Birch lives with pain most days of her life but when she opens her mouth to sing she forgets everything else and becomes a different person.

The 10-year-old was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis at the age of 18 months. She has damaged joints, her ankles are weak and she needs to use a wheelchair on her bad days.

Weekly injections help to control Eden’s symptoms but her arthritis is not curable and she will be living with it her entire life.

She wants to dance, run and compete in sports events like her friends at St George and St Giles Academy in Newcastle-under-Lyme – arthritis stands in the way.

But what Eden can do is sing. She joined a choir around three years ago and discovered that it’s not only an outlet that helps with her mental health she also has a genuine talent.

She’s now in the rock band Teachers Pet Rock Show UK, a tribute act for the film School of Rock. She sings solo rock songs and is a backing singer for other soloists.

Eden was also selected to perform as a soloist on four different stages at The National Eisteddfod, the largest cultural festival in Europe.

She sings songs of every type, has no fear of performing in front of large groups of people and if there is ever the opportunity to take part in karaoke she is first in the queue.

Eden, who lives in Newcastle-under-Lyme with her parents Jo and Paul, has been nominated as a Child of Courage in the Your Heroes Awards.

Her mum, Jo, said: “Eden just wants to be a kid, to dance and run around like her friends, but she can’t. Singing helps her in so many ways. It brings out a different person in her and makes her forget about her illness. She absolutely adores singing.”

She added: “Eden is a really talented singer and the whole family are so proud of her. She turns into a different person when she sings and we always say that it’s like her voice is older than she is.”