Whizzy Wheels Again

My daughter Eilidh’s independence is central to this post today which is supporting Nick Thomson's 13 to 3 marathon run on Sunday 24th April, the Virgin London Marathon.  Nick aims to raise £2000 towards a new 3d powered wheelchair.  Our family is only as independent as Eilidh is, only has happy as she is.  Her wheelchair allows independence and quality of life for us all.  

The Snapdragon is way ahead of what the NHS can provide and other privately funded similar powered wheelchairs, allowing 3d movement but also, more importantly, enabling Eilidh to interact eye to eye with her peers with the ability of the chair to move between a floor position and standing height.  The chair empowers Eilidh to be independent and confident so that she can be part of more beyond her immediate family. It is responsive and manoeuvrable, allowing her to explore the world around her.

But this chair comes at a price.  £24,113.  We have raised this once before – by asking friends and strangers to contribute to a Whizzy Wheels Fund (here on this blog) - for the Snapdragon she got when she was 2 years old, but this chair now needs replacing and we are finding it necessary to approach charities to help raise this total.  It is not easy to do this, to ask for help, to ask for money, to admit that we cannot raise this huge total for our daughter, but it is a mammoth task.

Eilidh's independence, however is priceless.  How can we put a price on her joy, her quality of life?  It's simple, we can't and as a result we need to do what is the best for her and the SnapDragon is the best. Through enabling and empowering Eilidh we too are learning; she teaches us how it is to live with disability.  She brings joy and I am hopeful of a bright future, but we need to ask others to help maintain her independence, raising funds towards a new powerchair because we cannot do it alone in the time frame required.

I ask that you consider supporting my daughter Eilidh maintain her independence by donating to Nick's Just Giving page which is supporting the Turbo Trust. The Turbo Trust believes in good mobility for all, regardless of age or ability, and provides grants for disabled people to buy the most versatile powerchairs available.approving a grant towards the total cost of her powered wheelchair.  Alternatively you can donate at GoFundMe https://www.gofundme.com/whizzywheelsagain

24

24 hours til the
West Whizzyland Way Walk!


Walkers are packing...
tents and gear
mars bars and jelly

beer and whisky.

What will the weather do?

Rain or Shine,

Wind and Hail?

Will the volcanic ash stay away?

We will be with you every step of the way fabulous walkers...

Well, at least to send you off properly with a wee wave goodbye!

You have done a fab job of fundraising so far...

We are totally humbled!

We - well, Fish has! - have featured in some online ROCK! magazines here and here...

so if you are visiting - hello!

But perhaps most importantly, there is still time to donate and make a difference to some one's life as we are fund raising for Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, Turbo Trust, Jennifer's Trust and Eilidh's Whizzy Wheels.

Donate here...

Momentum

Fundraising for the West Whizzyland Way Walk next week is gaining momentum...

It's amazing to watch!

We are humbled by everyone's kindness and generosity so far, but please keep donating...

All monies will be split between

The Muscular Dystrophy Campaign
The Turbo Trust
Jennifer's Trust
& Eilidh's Whizzy Wheels.

Thank you to everyone who has already donated -
you will make a difference to someone's life.

A Retirement Gift

A Retirement Gift and yet so much more...

My friend's dad Kenny has worked for the past 30 years for North Lanarkshire Council as an Emergency Planning Officer. 

He retired last week and he decided that he wanted his Retirement Gift collection to go Eilidh and her Whizzy Wheels...

Well... he has just donated £315 in cash (and there has also been a few paypal donations too.)

How totally fantastic!

We are so very humbled: Thank you, Thank You, Mr M!

oh, and "Happy Retirement"...

Enjoy being a full-time Grandpa and Taxi Driver

;)

Movie Madness

The Primary 1s and 2s of The Compass Primary School in Haddington hosted an "Enterprise Movie Party", raising a fantastic £235.00 and they decided that they would really like to donate the money to Eilidh's Whizzy Wheel Fund ...

How inspirational!

Now that Spring is springing and Eilidh is enjoying being outside a little more we think that it might be time to consider a trike (Tomcat Trikes) for her and would love to dedicate this money from The Compass to that - I hope that they approve!

So a BIG Thank You! to the Primary 1s and 2s @ The Compass

and a huge kiss....

mwah!

from Eilidh

Sam The Boccia Player

Sam has SMA just like Miss Eilidh and he is an experienced Dragon Rider!

Sam also has a mean eye for a game of Boccia apparently.

Royal Mail

What is Boccia? 

Boccia (pronounced 'Bot-cha') is a Paralympic sport introduced in 1984 and athletes throw, kick or use a ramp to propel a ball onto the court with the aim of getting closest to a 'jack' ball.  Boccia is designed specifically for athletes with a disability affecting locomotor function.  You can find out more here

At the moment Sam plays using a piece of guttering to direct a propel his ball onto the court but he is hankering after a boccia ramp and we would like to help...  So please spread the word and donate if you can: you never know, Sam may well be a Para-Olympian in the making!

Check out Sam's Boccia Page on Facebook here

Wedding Bells

We have the pleasure of knowing D&N, 2 wonderful people who are getting married this year on 11/11/11...

D&N suggested to us a while ago that they would like to dedicate their wedding list to Eilidh: they have been living together for over 10 years and do not feel that they need or want anything and would much rather that their guests donated to Eilidh and The Whizzy Wheel Fund...

They have 2 little girls, one who is just about the same age as E: they cannot imagine what we are going through and want to support us... this is what they would like to do...

We are blown away and moved to tears by their kindness...

Thank you, D&N

Gold Carriage Clock?

Some people are just amazing...

A friend's dad is about to retire in April and he doesn't want another gold carriage clock for the mantel piece...

He's asking his work colleagues to collect for Miss Eilidh and The Whizzy Wheel Fund!

Well, Thank You, Mr M!

My favourite donations...

I have meant for some time to mention my favourite donations...
You may well be thinking
"Surely a donation is a donation of money?"
Yes.
Mostly...

But there was the Lottery ticket;
No, we didn't win...
Perhaps they are lucky numbers though?

Then there are the stories behind the donations...
"I sold my banjo and couldn't think of a more fitting cause to give the money to."
or
The woman at Cardonald Primary who donated her coppers jar to Eilidh's Whizzy Wheels.

Out of many, many, many donations, these are my favourite three...

Thank you, once again, to one and all.

Coffee Time

A wee surprise today...

Friend's of "wee Ellen", aka Eilidh's granny, Irene and John Ballentyne held a Coffee Morning...

"Everyone gave generously and willingly" to Eilidh's Whizzy Wheel Fund and raised...

a
totally
&
utterly
spectacular
£170!

A BIG thank you to Irene, John and their coffee morning friends...
we really are very grateful
xx

Another surprise!

This afternoon Ian Chisholm, a friend of Rock Chick Grannie, donated a fantastic

£315 to the Fund. 

Ian works for F.B. Taylor and Amec and he organised a whip-round for us at work.

Way to go, Ian!

You rock!

Thank you from all at Whizzy Wheels Central!

A fantastic surprise...

I heard a letter drop through our letterbox yesterday and went to pick it up.
I didn't recognised the handwriting:
I opened it quickly.

A card and a folded piece of paper...
A note from a friend's mum:
St Cadoc's Golf Society raised £300 for Eilidh's fund...

WOW!

and she is planning to beat her husband's total over the next few months with another donation...

How totally inspiring!

How A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!

and so, so very humbling too...

So a huge BIG thank you to mags' mum and dad - Patricia and Michael - and their friends and buddies too.

"Be brilliant together" - Logica Donate

A little letter arrived from Logica on Saturday...

Excitedly, I opened the envelope...

and

Whooooooopeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

£650

a cheque from Logica's CEO!

Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant!

Thank you, Mr CEO, we're now £650 closer to our target.  And thank you to Sally again - you made all of this possible x

Another Fishy Donation...

Yatta, Fish's Tour Manager, has donated half of his wages from the St Mary's Weekend to the Whizzy Wheel Fund...

So that's another fantastic £100 towards the Grand Total!

Thank you, Yatta!

Fish Fans Donate

Haddington was visited by Fish Fans over the weekend as the FishHead's Club was in residence at St Mary's On Saturday...

Rock Chick Grannie, aka Eilidh's Grannie, collected donations from some fans and raised a fantastic

£170

F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C!

Many have also donated through Fish's Official Website over the past 4 weeks so...

Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you!

Update...Update...Update

The generosity continues...
A staggering £1802.37 donated in the last 48 hours
to take us to a grand total of...
£5817.33!

We are so stunned...
And everyone is getting on board with more fund raising ideas which is totally awesome!

Thank you for inspiring us to continue
and for all of your kind words and words of support...
they mean so much...

Now, there will be radio silence over the weekend...
This week has been exhausting and I need some time out...

But first it is the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign Conference in Glasgow tomorrow and Nicola Sturgeon is the Keynote Speaker who will no doubt be discussing the Mackie Report.  The Mackie Report,  which is the result of an Inquiry into the Provision of Services for Neuromuscular Disease in Scotland, emphasises that inequalities exist in the provision of specialist neuromuscular care and social care. 

I only wish that I could think of a sensible, well-thought out question to ask her.  I wonder if she will listen to what I have to say about our experience...

WOW!

Well...
We have been  blown away...
totally
and
utterly
blown away!
We are overwhelmed by the response that we have had...
People really are good and kind and so very generous too...

So, drum roll please....

We have raised a
massive £2504.96
in the last 48 hrs,
taking us to £4014.96...

Wow! WOW! WOW-WHEE!

and we have featured on Fish's Website and Facebook page,

been tweeted by Lorraine Kelly

and had media interest...

crikey crivens...

Keep up the good work

and thank you so much for all the donations to date

xx

Donations Welcome!

The PayPal Account has been verified...

We are up and running...

So if you want to sponsor Eilidh

to be beautiful & brave,

to grow up independent & strong-willed,

to travel 1m in her Panthera, chasing her sister,

to look gorgeous in her SnapDragon,

or just to be Eilidh...

Please sponsor her...

If you would rather wait...

and buy raffle tickets - yes, there will be a raffle!

or attend one of our evenings of entertainment - in January - details to be confirmed...

or sponsor me to do my Channel Swim

- not across the actual Channel but still 22 miles! - more details to follow

or hold a fund raising event yourself

or do something daft and fun and be sponsored...

Then that's ok too...

Just remember: we cannot put a price on Eilidh's independence but we do so want her to be independent... if you make a donation you will be helping achieve that and we are so very grateful...

So thank you!

x