The Foceac family from Rugeley in Staffordshire will now be able to take daughter Alisha out and about, thanks to county-based charity Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children providing a specialist pushchair.
Alisha, aged four, has Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy which means she has no functional independent movement. She has low immunity to infections which results in hospital admissions.
Her family urgently needed a specialist buggy – costing £3,455 – so they could get Alisha out and about in comfort and safety following her most recent discharge from hospital. They turned to locally-based national children’s disability charity Newlife Foundation for help.
The charity is currently being supported by Midlands Co-operative Society – and funding available through this partnership enabled Newlife to act immediately, securing delivery of the buggy just a few days later.
Dad Daniel Foceac said: “We were using a standard child buggy, but Alisha cried every time she went in it because she wasn’t comfortable. The specialist equipment from Newlife gives her appropriate postural support so she will be happier when we take her out, including to her many medical appointments.”
The buggy will accommodate additional equipment, including oxygen for use during acute episodes of respiratory infection. Daniel added: “Newlife responded quickly to our application – we are very grateful for that.”
Newlife Foundation has been the Midlands Co-operative’s staff-elected charity since May 2012; more than £300,000 has so far been raised specifically to provide specialist equipment for disabled and terminally ill children in the company’s trading area. Items funded to date – for more than 150 children – range from powered and manual wheelchairs to specialist car seats and beds.
Rugeley’s Etching Hill supermarket manager Matt Allwood said: “As a regional retailer we always ensure that our staff-elected charity supports people in need in our trading area. We are delighted to have been able to help Alisha and her family in this way.”
Pictured: Alisha Foceac.
Web: https://newlifecharity.co.uk Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/newlifecharity Facebook: https://www. facebook.com/newlifefoundation YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/NewlifeFoundation
