Taking a three year old to the doctors is a worrying experience at the best of times – ask any parent and they’ll say the same. But throw in a 400 mile round trip and an overnight stay just to get your child the care they need and it’s a whole new level of worry.

Three-year-old Cory Downes and his family have to make the journey from their home in Otley, West Yorkshire to Oxford to see the specialists he needs – Cory has an undiagnosed neurological condition, low muscle tone, seizures and regular chest infections. Inevitably, this involves the family having to stay overnight in a hotel – which for Cory is a dangerous experience in itself.

Cory’s lack of muscle control means that sleeping in a standard bed is out of the question – it quite simply wouldn’t be safe for him. His special bed at home has been designed to meet his needs but when he is away from home he has no such provision and unfortunately statutory services are unable to help.

So the family turned to Newlife Foundation for Disabled Children, the UK’s largest charitable funder of essential equipment to meet the specialist needs of children with disabilities and terminal illness. Newlife needs your help to provide Cory with the special travel bed he needs to keep him safe when he is away from home.

Mum, Sherri Downes said; “Cory needs round the clock care – he can’t swallow so he is fed with a tube and has no muscle tone so needs full support at all times. When we are at home, he has a profiling bed but when we go away for his medical appointments we were having to use a standard travel cot. He’s grown out of this now so he doesn’t have anywhere safe to sleep when we are away – it is a constant worry and it means we can’t even contemplate a family holiday.”

In West Yorkshire alone, Newlife has provided in excess of £424,000 of disability equipment – including beds, wheelchairs, seating and sensory aids – to 362 children.

However, the demand is still high and Newlife is currently working to provide £25,476 of equipment to 22 families in the West Yorkshire area. To meet this growing need, Newlife established the Newlife West Yorkshire Fund – www.newlifecharity.co.uk/westyorkshire – giving local people to the chance to help local disabled children like Cory, and every penny donated or fundraised in West Yorkshire is guaranteed to support families in the county. The Newlife West Yorkshire Fund supports equipment provision for under-19s facing any significant disability, whether acquired through birth defect, prematurity, accident or illness.

Newlife guarantees that 100 percent of the money donated or fundraised for Cory will go towards funding his special travel bed and any surplus funds will go towards helping a disabled or terminally ill child within the West Yorkshire Area.

Further information about the Newlife West Yorkshire Fund – and how to specifically donate or fundraise to help Cory – can be found by going to www.newlifecharity.co.uk/westyorkshire or emailing local@newlifecharity.co.uk. Telephone donations can be made by calling 01543 462777.

Pictured: Cory Downes

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