‘I felt so frustrated at life I couldn’t see a future. Not now. I feel unbeatable’

Claire Bradwell had never thought of running her own business. Truth is, until recently her only goal was simply to survive and ensure her three young children didn’t grow up without a mother.

In the last 10 years Claire, from Sheffield, has experienced more heartache than many face in a lifetime. Yet despite being diagnosed with cancer, spending weeks in intensive care following a hysterectomy and watching her young daughter struggle with a severe hip problem, the 29-year-old has successfully launched a business to help other parents of children with the same condition.

With a little help from her joiner father, Claire has designed a chair called the Hip Rocker which allows young children to sit upright, be fed and entertained while in a restrictive hip cast. It’s earned her a nomination in this year’s Prince’s Trust and Samsung Celebrate Success Awards. Run in association with the Yorkshire Post, Claire’s story neatly sums up what the awards are all about.

“I don’t do things the easy way,” she laughs. “I guess everything goes back to the day when I was 17 and was told I was unlikely to be ever able to have children. I’d had a lot of gynaecological problems, but I don’t think it hit me at the time. I was young, enjoying life at college and wasn’t even thinking of starting a family.”

However, five years later Claire unexpectedly found she was pregnant and the initial scan revealed an even bigger surprise.

“I was living in County Durham at the time and my family were all down in Sheffield,” she says. “They were desperate to know how the scan had gone and when they asked how the baby was I will always remember telling them, ‘they’re fine’.”

Claire was about to become a mum to identical twin boys, but the pregnancy was traumatic. At 19 weeks she was admitted to hospital where she stayed for almost a month and until she gave birth at 36 weeks she was in and out of the maternity ward. Following a painful labour, the twins thrived but, just as Claire was adapting to life with two small boys, her own health deteriorated.

“I found out I had cervical cancer,” she says. “Fortunately it was in its very early stages, but just hearing the word cancer inevitably means you fear the worst. The cancer was removed, but my body had taken a big hit. My partner and I discussed it and while we would have loved to have had another child, we knew that we should give it at least a year so that I had fully recovered.”

Unfortunately, the couple’s best laid plans were thrown awry when just days after that discussion, Claire found out she was pregnant again. This time the pregnancy was a breeze, but following the labour Claire was rushed into intensive care suffering a severe haemorrhage

Shortly afterwards she was told that she would need a hysterectomy but with her baby daughter suffering from hip dysplasia, Claire put her own operation on hold.

“Daisy had to come first,” she says. “She needed surgery to correct the problem and then had to spend three months in a cast which stretched from her toes to her chest. It has to be tight to ensure the bones heal properly, but it also meant her stomach was unable to expand and she basically stopped eating.”

It was then that Claire came up with the idea for the Hip Rocker, a jellybean-shaped rocking chair which mirrors the shape of the cast. Her dad made a prototype and it was then that Claire approached the Prince’s Trust. With their help she wrote a detailed business plan and took the Hip Rocker, which can also be used for children with cerebral palsy, to market.

“Things have just moved so quickly,” says Claire. “We started with two designs in seven different colours and now we have five designs in 18 different colours. Daisy is now four and she will need another operation and there is still a long way for us all to go, but I am so glad that I have been able to do something to help other families.

“The last few years are difficult to put into words. There was a point when I didn’t know if I would live or die. Now I’m running my own business and I feel like I am making a real difference.”

Claire, who has been nominated for the Prince’s Trust RBS Enterprise Award will find out whether she has been successful at the ceremony in Leeds next week. However, for all those who have been short-listed, it’s the recognition rather than the trophy which is important.

Like many who find support through the trust, there was a point when Ash Rook’s life was spiralling out of control. Attacked on the street when he was 14 years old, the incident turned the previously happy and outgoing teenager into a recluse. Away from school for six months, when he finally returned he was too scared to walk there alone and, feeling vulnerable, he admits his behaviour was difficult for teachers to cope with. Before long he was regularly taking drugs and drinking heavily.

“I was out of control and just always seemed to be at the centre of trouble,” says the 20-year-old, from Doncaster. “There came a point when I realised I couldn’t go on like was and I had my heart set on becoming a marine. I wanted to step up and be a man. It felt good to have a focus and it was all I could think about.”

Displaying dedication many might not have thought him capable of, Ash trained hard in the gym and when the day of his induction arrived he was confident he’d done enough to realise his dream.

“When they rejected me because of my asthma I felt like my whole world had been ripped apart,” says Ash, who is nominated for the KCOM Group Young Ambassador of the Year Award. “Everything I’d been working for had been for nothing. I knew that I wanted to find something that I felt equally as passionate about. The problem was I didn’t know what that was and I could feel my life slipping away from me again.”

Ash’s future looked bleak until he enrolled on a course with Connexions, the social enterprise set up to help young people into work. That helped him to secure a place on the Prince’s Trust’s Team programme and he is now one of the charity’s Job Ambassadors, advising other young people on the best way ahead.

“It’s been a mad couple of years,” says Ash. “There were times when I was so frustrated at life I couldn’t see any future. Not now. I feel unbeatable.”

All those who will be honoured at next week’s awards have fought hard for their achievements. None more so than Conor Lancaster, who is nominated for the University of Huddersfield Educational Achiever of the Year Award.

After contracting meningitis as a toddler, throughout his childhood he relied on splints to help him walk, and school was made even more difficult due to the fact he is also partially sighted. While he refused to let his disabilities hold him back, Conor’s spirit was further tested when he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.

While undergoing radiotherapy and chemotherapy he still went to school whenever he could and also began attending the Prince’s Trust’s xl club set up to help pupils who have fallen behind in class.

“It was so much fun,” he says. “Everyone supported each other and it helped me enjoy myself while at the same time as catching up on all the work I’d missed.”

The 15-year-old from Wibsey, near Bradford, enjoyed the camaraderie and those friendships have become even more important since he discovered the cancer has returned and is now terminal.

Recently he took part in the club’s cricket initiative. While unable to play and despite being in constant pain, Conor went on a three-day residential course to become the group’s team manager.

“I fought it once and I will fight it again,” he says.

Conor has never wanted to be given special treatment. He has never sought pity and all he has asked for is to be treated the same as any other teenager.

However, what he and every other nominee of this year’s Prince’s Trust and Samsung Celebrating Success Awards have shown is that they really are something special.

Trust’s years of achievement

1976: Prince’s Trust launches with 21 pilot projects including funding two ex-offenders to start a fishing club.

1982: The charity’s long-running relationship with leading musicians begins with the first fund-raising concert backed by Status Quo.

1988: In the Prince’s 40th year, a £40m appeal is launched with the Government pledging match funding.

1996: The first rock concert in 20 years take place in Hyde Park to raise money for the trust.

2001: The number of young people helped by the trust tops 400,000.

2013: Launched in 2003, next week will see the 10th anniversary of the Prince’s Trust Celebrate Success Awards in Yorkshire and the Humber.