Gal Gadot calls Wiltshire six-year-old with muscular dystrophy 'the true Wonder Woman'
A six-year-old from Wiltshire who has muscular dystrophy has been called a "true Wonder Woman" by the actress who plays the superhero, after she raised thousands for charity.
During the coronavirus pandemic Carmela Chillery-Watson took on an epic challenge inspired by her favourite action hero and raised close to £8,000.
The six-year-old covered 300km in 30 days alongside her mum Lucy - while she was doing it she dressed up as Wonder Woman and was tweeted by her icon Gal Gadot.
Now the actress who plays the superhero in the Hollywood films has called Carmela "the true Wonder Woman".
Appearing on BBC's The One Show on Wednesday 15 December, presenters Alex Jones and Jermaine Jenas presented Gadot with a video clip from Carmela.
In it she said: "Hi Gal, it's Carmela, aka Wonder Girl. I can't wait to see your new movie WW84. You help me fight on living with muscular dystrophy, and inspired me to do my exercise daily to help me stay strong.
"Thank you for donating to my Wonder Woman walk. You help me and other children have hope. Lots of love, bye."
Responding emotionally to the clip, Gadot said: "I know Carmela, she is a true Wonder Woman."
She added: "Carmela is the true Wonder Woman and she fights for her role and she shows she doesn't let anything stop her, and she just took this very very long trip, that she and her mum and her father did.
"They just walked and walked and walked. She's amazing, she's amazing."
When Carmela took on the mammoth charity challenge in September, Gadot donated more than £3,000 to her fundraising page in aid of Muscular Dystrophy UK.
Her message of support on Twitter said: "You're a true hero. So inspiring and strong. I hope one day we get to meet each other."
Carmela, who is from Devizes in Wiltshire, was diagnosed with the life-limiting LMNA Congenital MD when she was three years old.
When the coronavirus pandemic started her father, Darren, had to self isolate in the garden shed to protect his vulnerable daughter.
Darren Chillery-Watson, who later received an award titled 'Epic Dad of the Year', works as a delivery driver collecting and delivering coronavirus samples for testing.
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