Hi, I am Charlotte.
This is my home. Come in.
Narrator: Charlotte has undergone nine major surgeries.
To help with a congenital hip-condition.
Charlotte: This is my brother, George.
George: Hi.
Do you want to see some of my paintings?
Narrator: Charlotte has a talent for painting.
And her work is selling up to $8,000 bucks!
Hundreds of days in hospital.
And months of lying around...
in really, big, uncomfortable casts.
Have helped her discover an incredible talent.
Kristy: I also have had multiple surgeries.
And been in and out of hospital.
We both have congenital hip dysplasia.
Hip dysplasia is a problem with the formation
of the hip joint in children.
It can either be the ball of the hip joint,
the socket of the hip joint or both.
It can range from barely detectible
to severally malformed or dislocated.
The condition can be bilateral - both, like me,
or unilateral - one, like Charlotte.
Hip dysplasia is when your hip isn't connected properly.
And if it's not connected you start limping.
And it is something that's not right with your hip,
so it makes you limp. But once it's connected...
you will stop limping.
Kristy: This is one of my most prized possossions.
It is one of my x-rays signed by the band The Killers.
Those pins are what is in at the moment.
Because this knobbly bit here had not been cut off
when they pulled the hip socket out.
It's just basically sticking it back together
because there is no glue. Leg glue doesn't exist.
So, they screw it all back together
and hope it all works.
Where is Charlotte?
Oh, there you are!
And I'm guessing this is Felicity.
Shall we go and do some painting on her?
Charlotte: Yep.
Down at Mark's studio? Charlotte: Yep.
Kristy: Having seen her exhibition.
I was keen to meet this girl.
Turns out she was keen to suss out...
what it takes to be a presenter.
Artist Mark Olsen is mentoring Charlotte.
The two met when Mark was visiting
his own daughter at Star Ship Hospital.
He was impressed by her bed side doodles.
And is now helping her to become an awesome artist.
Kristy: Why is the painting upside down Charlotte?
Charlotte: So that it makes it a bit easier to paint.
Kristy: Charlotte reads a lot of books.
And has a huge imagination,
which gives her heaps of ideas.
Mark: So, what do you want to do next?
The collar and the buttons.
What do you want to do to the collar?
Maybe do it purple.
Kristy: Why did you pick purple?
I thought it would be good because...
then there would be two dark colors.
And it will look good if they were together.
Mark: And now do you want to paint the collar?
Charlotte: Yep.
Mark: Probably need a bit more paint.
Just gently pad it in.
Kristy: There is always more than one painting on the go.
So, what are you painting now?
I am painting the glove.
Have you almost finished?
No I have got to do the color over it.
Once it is dry though.
So, we have to wait for it to dry.
Shall we go shopping while we wait for it to dry?
Yeah!
That's an awesome idea.
Kristy: Charlotte doesn't appear to have...
a visible disability with her hips.
But she will be forever fragile,
with the chance of more surgeries in the future.
You could say that it is a hidden disability.
Our hospital visits are over for the moment.
But we took some time to share stories.
Charlotte: What did you do when you were in hospital?
Kirsty: I looked at the ceiling a lot.
But Mum would always get me a big helium balloon.
And I would bang that on the ceiling.
And count the holes in the ceiling.
But I did do school at Star Ship.
One time I painted light bulbs and they were really cool.
Charlotte: Do you remember the Smiley Truck?
Yes the pain rating thing? Charlotte: Yeah.
Charlotte: I remember when I got my drains out,
straightaway I knew where I would point.
And I would always point to the saddest one.
I knew where it was and I would go straight there.
Yeah, they are not comfortable.
Kristy: There were a lot of painful times for the both of us.
Few people can really understand what it's like to be a kid,
and facing all of that.
One of the things that came out of it for both of us,
was our passion for all things creative.
When you do a painting, Charlotte, does it come from your brain,
the people, or do you usually know them?
Charlotte: Both of them, most of them come from my imagination.
But some people commission me to do it.
Or I find somebody I really like...
and I will just start painting them.
Do you like being a presenter?
I think it is really cool.
You get to talk to awesome people like you.
And I don't have to sit around the office all the time.
You get to do a whole lot of different things.
And that is really cool. I like it.
I think you would be a good presenter one day.
Kristy: With a nice and healthy bank balance,
thanks to more than $10,000 in art sales.
She can afford to shop at the finest places in town.
And what did she spend some of that money on?
Charlotte: Well, I have spent in on canvas, paints and brushes.
But apart from that I have saved it.
I really want to buy some more books with it.
Kristy: Attitude likes providing role models
for young people with disabilities.
Maybe Charlotte sees a future role for herself on the team.
Kirsty: This is where I sit.
Here is some of the work that I do.
Kristy: This is a girl called Celeste.
She does art but it is body painting.
Like the art that you do but she sticks it on your face.
Kirsty: Charlotte and I were pretty honest about our hips.
Like, my hip still frustrates me at times and lets me down.
Kristy: We did a shoot where we had to carry backpacks.
The idea of the backpack was to put weight in your hips.
I didn't say no and I should have said no.
Kristy: That is insane.
Man: Does it feel better than last time?
If I angle myself like this.
Man: How does that feel?
Kristy: It feels really pressuring on my knees.
Kirsty: So, that is the hardest part of my job learning to say,
wait a minute, no. I can't do this.
Hip dysplasia is so fragile,
and if I screw that up I am in big trouble.
Should we check out some What Now stuff?
Charlotte: Yep.
Kristy: Charlotte likes the fact that the Attitude crew
is now making stuff for What Now, to helps kids understand kids like us.
Kristy: There is not a lot of fun when you are in hospital.
Charlotte's family have found a way...
to turn something painful into something special
by making home movies.
"Georgie I have got one thing to tell you...
if you want a cuddle, please don't roll over onto my tummy
because my cast is here too.
Kirsty: Kids with medical issues are not the only ones on this journey.
Their families are going through it too.
Mother: She calls it her "gift" so besides the focus of being 'a hip kid'
it gives her another focus and sense of identity
that she is an artist and has a gift.
You learn to be patient and stick at things...
if you keep doing things in one place.
And the resilience of dealing with pain and hospital stays.
That definitely plays out in her character as she paints.
Kristy: I thought that meeting Charlotte...
was about me teaching her a thing or two about life.
But as it turned out she taught me something too.
Charlotte: It feels good that I know that I am not
the only person with it and I know a few people now.
Kirsty: I want to thank her for actually saying...
"Hey I have it too" because I thought...
I was the only one in the world, I have never met anyone else.