Send Ben to the Special Olympics.

BOWLING UP A STORM. Ben has PWS. He can’t bowl like you or me. He grabs the ball with 2 hands and spins it down the lane. It almost goes into the gutter and then comes back and hits the pins. Ben is good. So good, this 19 year old will represent WA in the Nationals at the Special Olympics in Adelaide in April 2018. He’s not getting ahead of himself, but if he gets through Nationals it’s off to Dubai representing Australia at the World Championships. And then, if everything goes to plan, Ben could represent Australia at the Para Olympics – where his mate Colin already swims for Australia. Ben works full time with Active where a supervisor works with a group of 4 employees. Ben does two days a week at the Kmart Depot. He and his mates recently packed all the showbags for the Royal Show. Ben often works making wooden window frames and pallets and the crew regularly assemble headset and dinner packs for Qantas and Virgin. When Ben’s Mum and Nan went to the open day recently they saw Ben was approved to use the heavy metal press and drop saw equipment. They had no idea what he could do! Ben was diagnosed with PWS at 3 weeks. When he was 4 years old he had his first binge and emptied the fridge – including the raw sausages – and the food was locked up after that. These days he has one beer with his mates and sticks to a routine. But if something is left out – Ben knows and its gone. He’s even learned how to eat the middle of things and leave the outside so you can’t tell just from looking in the pantry. Ben has two siblings and his mum says they are all just regular kids. To keep up with costs Ben’s mum has to work away and when she does, the kids look after themselves and each other. On top of this Ben also does martial arts, sailing, soccer and he used to be pretty handy at ballroom dancing. At first it is hard to understand how Ben and his family have achieved so much. His mum says it’s because they all treat each other as individuals – regular people with different skills and abilities. Ben’s mum will never forget the day they went home from NICU and Ben’s doctor said to her “if you treat him like he’s disabled, he’ll act like he’s disabled”. With advice like that, Ben’s amazing life starts to make sense. If you’d like to help with the cost of Ben’s Bowling dreams you l donate at Go Fund Me