The Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire, Mr William Tucker, has thrown his support behind a recently launched appeal to provide specialist equipment for children with disabilities in the county.

Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children – the UK’s largest charity funder of specialist equipment for children with disabilities and terminal illness – has set up the Newlife Derbyshire Fund specifically to support local families.

Right now, there are 22 children in Derbyshire who need your help to get the specialist equipment that will really change their lives. The Newlife Derbyshire Fund – www.newlifecharity.co.uk/derbyshire – is an opportunity for local people to help local disabled children, with every penny donated or fundraised in Derbyshire guaranteed to support vulnerable families in the county.

Mr Tucker – the Queen’s official representative in Derbyshire – said: “I’m delighted to support Newlife’s appeal to help disabled and terminally ill children in Derbyshire. Newlife has already helped many children in our county and now, through this dedicated appeal, local people can directly help more local children get the vital equipment they need, to ease their pain, keep them safe and to enjoy their lives to the full. I am sure that knowing every penny raised in the county will be used to help children in our county will inspire local people to help.”

Special disability equipment including wheelchairs, walkers, beds, seating and communication aids can help give children independence, keep them safe, relieve pain and overcome challenges. For instance, you could help a child be discharged from hospital, take their first steps or kick a football with their friends. . . .

You can help Newlife help more children like Arjan (full story below).

Arjan is one of 142 children in Derbyshire already supported through equipment grants and loans totalling more than £204,260, so we know there is a very real need for a specific county fund. In this way we aim to help more children, more quickly.

Statutory services in Derbyshire often have a responsibility to make equipment provision – but when help is declined, Newlife steps in. The charity challenges many such decisions and has an impressive success rate. However, where we are unable to overturn these decisions, we provide the equipment ourselves through our range of grant and loan services. We do this with the support of front-line health professionals across Derbyshire who have helped Newlife help local children in real need.

The Newlife Derbyshire Fund will support equipment provision for under-19s facing any significant disability, whether acquired through birth defect, prematurity, accident or illness.

Vitally, the Newlife Derbyshire Fund website – www.newlifecharity.co.uk/derbyshire – will enable local people to find out who needs help in their county right now and highlight the support the charity gives vulnerable families. It includes contact details for the Newlife County Liaison Team – tel no 01543 431 444 or email local@newlifecharity.co.uk – and shows specific ways people can help support children with disability and terminal illness and their families.

That might involve taking part in a local sporting challenge, give you information on how to organise a fundraising event – or even ask you to donate £5 today! Volunteers are also needed to help raise awareness of what we do and how we do it.

We hope that by launching the Newlife Derbyshire Fund, children with disabilities or terminal illness in the county won’t have to go without the equipment they need for everyday life.

Newlife Foundation supports families in Derbyshire through a range of free services:
Nurse-staffed helpline
Equipment grants
Emergency equipment loans
Sensory and developmental toy ‘pod’ loans.

A SPECIAL SEAT FOR A SPECIAL LITTLE BOY

Everyone likes to relax in their favourite comfy chair at the end of the day – and little Arjan Dosanjh from Littleover in Derbyshire is no different.

Arjan, aged three, has Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy and a visual impairment. He is unable to sit independently and a hip condition means he needs to be correctly position to reduce pain.

Until recently, his parents had the choice of putting him in a functional upright seat or propping him up on the family settee; neither supported his postural needs and so his bed was often a more comfortable option.

Specialist seating, called a PPod, supplied by Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children has finally given Arjan somewhere comfortable and safe to sit.

Mum Sangeeta Virk Dosanjh said: “The seat has been beneficial for us because we know that he is comfortable and his postural needs are now being met. It also has a safety harness so he can’t roll or fall out. Arjan likes to lie back in his seat and watch his projector in his bedroom – and because it is portable we can move it anywhere in the house.”

Before getting the PPod, Arjan had been using a standard toddler seat, but it didn’t have the side supports he needs to stop him slumping over and the bigger he got the more uncomfortable it became.

Sangeeta added: “The PPod is great because if I want to go to see my parents I can take it with me in the car and Arjan can be relaxed and comfortable at his grandparents’ house and play a more active role in what’s going on around him.”

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