Please help Tom

This is Tom. Tom is 12 years old and has an undetermined disability. He was born with his disability and as he has grown, he has required ongoing in-home care and equipment as part of his daily life. As he is now developing into a teen, he is getting much stronger and heavier and is of course experiencing those bursts of testosterone that boys deal with as they mature.

Tom will require assistance every day of his life and it is now becoming more and more imperative that his mum (Jo) and the rest of his family are able to facilitate his needs to get him to doctors and specialist appointments as well as the “normal” outings to the park or shops that most of us take for granted.

There are huge limitations for Tom and his family right now.

He catches a modified bus 30kms to a school especially for those with challenges such as his.

His carers are not legally allowed to lift Tom into or out of vehicles so are limited to walking him in his wheelchair. However, they cannot go too far as he has toileting issues that need to be addressed and if they are too far from home, Tom’s toileting cannot be dealt with promptly.

He is also getting a lot heavier and this too is becoming an issue for his mum. The wheelchair too, is extremely heavy and it is extremely cumbersome for her to have to dismantle it to try to fit it into the boot of her current car.

After Tom was born, Jo went on to have Will who is now a growing 9 year old and Angus, 7, who has Autism. Angus needs of a lot of attention and specialised care too. Jo’s husband, Gordon, is a shift worker away from home and so she is in effect, a single mum for quite a lot of the time. Needless to say, she has her hands full!

Although she is unsure of how she would manage to get there, she has applied for jobs but of course, nobody will employ someone with high-needs, disabled children. She would love a job that would accommodate the school hours.

Jo is a very humble, unassuming lady who considers herself “not worthy” of a Go Fund Me page however we, her friends, believe the complete opposite. Not once have any of us heard her moan about her day, the challenges that she faces on a daily basis, the logistical nightmares that are always present when planning an outing/excursion/weekend away/school holidays. She truly is an amazing woman. She has exhausted all the “usual” and “normal” avenues of trying to obtain funding and/or help in purchasing a modified vehicle that will suit her family’s needs but for one reason or another, she falls just short of the criteria.

We would dearly love to present a modified vehicle/van to Jo for her family’s ease of use and pleasure. Just to see the smile on her face would be amazing!

We would appreciate it so very much if you could please reach into your pocket and help us to reach our goal for Jo and her beautiful family.

Please share this with your friends. A million thanks in advance :)

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Thanks to all the wonderful contributions made so far, as well as funding from various charities and agencies that have supported our "mission", the target amount is now only $10,000!!! A massive thank you to everyone who has helped by either donating or spreading the word. Please continue to do so - not far to go now :)