Raising Funds for a Beach Wheelchair for the Children in Rehab at The Wilson Centre!

The Wilson Centre on Auckland's North Shore is a temporary home to children who need ongoing rehabilitation after being discharged from Auckland Starship Hospital. They can spend weeks or months receiving intensive rehabilitation therapy after surgeries, medical treatments or accidents. The family can become split up as they care for their child away from their own home and community. There is often a lot of financial and emotional support needed at this time as their lives are turned upside down.

The Wilson Centre is located within the beautiful grounds of the Wilson Home Trust and close to beautiful beaches. During their stay, the children are dependent on wheelchairs and hospital beds. Transport is always a challenge and you can often see the children being pushed by parents, grandparents or caregiver's along the main road to just get out and look around. Presently the one place they are unable to access is the local beaches. We would like to enable this to happen.

Our son, Finlay lives locally and has also benefited from the Wilson Centre Rehabilitation Services. He suffers from low bone density due to his Cerebral Palsy (a neurological disorder). His low bone density resulted in two severe leg fractures in the last couple of years. Finlay needs to build his strength up in his legs and to do that he uses a standing frame. He wants to challenge himself with a 30-Day-Challenge to stand in his standing frame for a minimum of 30-minutes a day leading up to Christmas. This will be a real effort for him as his legs have become very weak.

To encourage him to stand he would like New Zealander's to recognise his challenge and support his fundraising efforts to make his local beaches accessible to all the children at the Wilson Centre. He loves the beach and knows how it can help recovery, general health and wellbeing.

A beach wheelchair can cost anywhere from $6,000 to $7,000 and the specialised adaptations that provide support come at an extra cost. We intend to liaise with therapists at the Wilson Centre to choose the best one to fit the need. The funds raised will be given to The Well Foundation, the official fundraising charity for the Wilson Centre and District Health Board.

PLEASE HELP US TO RAISE FUNDS FOR THE CHILDREN AT THE WILSON CENTRE TO ACCESS THE BEACH THIS SUMMER!

* If we do exceed our goal for the beach wheelchair and adaptations, the money will be put towards a Molift Hoist that can be transported. If a hoist of this type is made available it will allow families who have a vehicle the chance to utilise it too.