Newlife, the Charity for Disabled Children is urging local heroes to come forward to raise money for 19 disabled and terminally ill children in Leicestershire who desperately need specialist disability equipment.
Newlife needs to raise £16,203 to provide all 19 children with equipment they urgently need to reduce pain, prevent their conditions from deteriorating and to help them do everyday things most of us take for granted.
Newlife is the UK’s largest charity providing specialist equipment to disabled and terminally ill children. The charity has already helped 59 disabled children across Leicestershire in the last 12 months, including six-year-old Mia Phipps from Leicester who is recovering from a bone marrow transplant after having leukaemia. She desperately needed a £2,184 car seat to keep her safe and comfortable whenever she travels – which the local authority wouldn’t provide.
Newlife has also helped one-year-old Piper Walker from Melton Mowbray who has a complex condition that means she can’t sit, stand or even hold her head up straight. With only a baby bouncer to use which restricted her to looking at the ceiling, she had no quality of life without a £1,741 specialist seat to give her the vital support she needs or help her look at the world around her.
Sadly without the support of the local community Newlife can’t fund every application it receives.
Consultant nurse at Newlife, Karen Dobson, said: “One of the most heart-breaking parts of my job is when we have to say no to a child and family who are in desperate need of help because we simply don’t have the funds.
“The reality is that many of these children have already been refused essential equipment by their local health services. That is why they turn to us, but unfortunately we haven’t got the funds to help them right now.
“Although we’ve been able to help some children we desperately need kind hearted locals – we literally can’t do it without your help. Every penny you give will genuinely be used to save and change young lives in the West Midlands.”
You can make a donation by visiting the website www.newlifecharity.co.uk/leicestershire or by calling the Newlife fundraising team on 0800 988 4640. 100 per cent of money raised will be used to help a child in need in your county.
