A WOMAN who lost her speech and the effective use of all four limbs when she suffered two childhood strokes is to meet the Princess Royal.

Sarah Chandler, 21, from Abingdon, will welcome Princess Anne to the Ace Centre, an Oxford children’s charity which helps transform the lives of youngsters with severe communication difficulties through technology.

The visit on December 4 will mark the 25th anniversary of the charity, based in Windmill Road, Headington.

Sarah was introduced by the centre to technology like the talking computers used by Stephen Hawking, which give people an artificial voice. She controls the computer just by moving her eyes.

A spokesman for Ace said centre managers picked Miss Chandler to meet the Princess as she was “a great example of what technology, hard work and determination can achieve”.

Last night, her mother said Miss Chandler was still working out what to say to the Princess Royal when she meets her.

Paula Chandler said: “Without the Ace Centre we wouldn’t have the hope and the support for Sarah to succeed with the communication aid, which we absolutely love.”

Sarah will be joined by fellow members of the centre’s Chatterbox Club, which helps young people take part in activities such as painting, cooking or drama.

The Princess Royal, who is visiting in her role as Patron of the College of Occupational Therapists, will be shown how therapists, teachers and technology experts work together to let youngsters take control of their own lives, often for the first time.

Thousands of children, parents, teachers and professionals have been taught by the centre to use communication technology.

Director Dr Ben Jabuni said: “It’s great the Princess Royal has agreed to visit us to help mark our anniversary celebration.

“Her visit to our centre is a mark of recognition of the valuable contribution of our occupational therapists and the difference they are making to the lives of these children and young people.”

Centre staff will show the Princess Royal some of the technology that has helped Sarah so much.

Dr Jabuni added: “There’s virtually nowhere in the UK where so many of the current range of eye-gaze equipment can be found in one place and be available for independent trialling.”

In September, the charity bought a new communication machine with a £10,000 grant from the National Lottery.

The machine’s cursor follows the movement of the eyes and lets the user pick words and construct sentences, which the computer then reads aloud – letting many children ‘speak’ for the first time.