Supporting Lachlan
Donation protected
Lachlan's an AC/DC lovin' cool dude! He loves rock music, maths(!), Eurovision, the colour red and Strictly. At 11 years old (yikes!) he's starting to grow up and, like most kids his age, he's determined to do as much as he can without his Mum or Dad's help.
But he needs a bit of extra help. Lachlan has had cerebral palsy since he was born. Cerebral palsy is a pretty common movement disability - it affects how the brain controls muscle movements. There are many types of cerebral palsy: Lachlan has choreo athetoid quadriplegic cerebral palsy. It affects his whole body and every limb. This means Lachlan can't sit up, stand, dress himself, go to the toilet, eat or speak without help or equipment.
You can see more of Lachlan on his Facebook blog - it's managed by Mum and Dad, but is used mostly to post his words as written on his MyTobii C-12 eyegaze computer. Find it here: https://www.facebook.com/whatlachlansays/
Now, this is where we need help to help Lachlan.....
We can't take away all the difficulties associated with having a severe disability, but we can try to get the best equipment to make Lachlan's life that little bit easier and more enjoyable. We moved house to one that better suits Lachlan's needs and at long last have been able to create living, bedroom and bathroom space which Lachlan can access. Most of the basic stuff to survive is provided by our great public services, but it doesn't take long before you step into the 'luxury extras' category when it comes to disability equipment. These un-funded pieces of equipment are beyond our (or really anyone's) means and so we need to turn to you, to the wider world, to try to raise what we can. As we - Lachlan's Mum and Dad - both work, we are unable to apply for most mainstream (means-tested) grant funds. This is hugely frustrating and a significant barrier to supporting Lachlan's requirements.
Here's a breakdown of just some of the pieces of equipment we wanted to get for Lachlan, with their rough cost indicated. These aren't extravagances or impulsive suggestions - these are things we've looked at for years and made sure they're right for Lachlan. As you can see, with only a few relatively-basic things the costs rocket!
* Height-adjustable bath - from £6,000-£8,000 (this is on top of our 20% contribution to Council-funded home adaptations)
* Specialist supportive armchair - around £2,800
* Off-road wheelchair, with bike attachments (for the beach!) - around £2,800
* Eye-gaze device and tablet (back up & for out and about device)- around £2,500
Thanks to everyone's amazing fundraising efforts, we've managed to raised half our total and Lachlan has been able to get his special bath for his new bathroom, and we were able to purchase an off-road wheelchair (picture below on the beach - impossible without this new chair).
However, nothing in life is ever simple and unfortunately while we have achieved many of the goals we wanted to when we started fundraising, we've had some setbacks. Mainly, well, our builders did this to us.
The cost of the builder going bust has been high, not just financially. We have not reached the final figure, but we estimate that the on-costs of the errors and incomplete work exceeds £7,500 and is probably higher. We've used every penny we can lay our hands on to finish the interior but now we're stuck. We can't finish this project without going out to both friends and kind strangers once again.
We have one major piece of work to complete - the large ramp which is supposed to be at the back of the house. This will allow Lachlan to get into the back garden. It will also allow us to complete the back of the house, which is currently looking like a building site, as you can see from the picture in the link above. We've also still not been able to fund Lachlan's specialist chair for the lounge.
And so...it's time to kick-start the fundraising again.
If you or someone you know can help, if you have any ideas, we'd love to hear from you.
Thanks for reading. Here's hoping we can all make a difference for Lachlan. x
But he needs a bit of extra help. Lachlan has had cerebral palsy since he was born. Cerebral palsy is a pretty common movement disability - it affects how the brain controls muscle movements. There are many types of cerebral palsy: Lachlan has choreo athetoid quadriplegic cerebral palsy. It affects his whole body and every limb. This means Lachlan can't sit up, stand, dress himself, go to the toilet, eat or speak without help or equipment.
You can see more of Lachlan on his Facebook blog - it's managed by Mum and Dad, but is used mostly to post his words as written on his MyTobii C-12 eyegaze computer. Find it here: https://www.facebook.com/whatlachlansays/
Now, this is where we need help to help Lachlan.....
We can't take away all the difficulties associated with having a severe disability, but we can try to get the best equipment to make Lachlan's life that little bit easier and more enjoyable. We moved house to one that better suits Lachlan's needs and at long last have been able to create living, bedroom and bathroom space which Lachlan can access. Most of the basic stuff to survive is provided by our great public services, but it doesn't take long before you step into the 'luxury extras' category when it comes to disability equipment. These un-funded pieces of equipment are beyond our (or really anyone's) means and so we need to turn to you, to the wider world, to try to raise what we can. As we - Lachlan's Mum and Dad - both work, we are unable to apply for most mainstream (means-tested) grant funds. This is hugely frustrating and a significant barrier to supporting Lachlan's requirements.
Here's a breakdown of just some of the pieces of equipment we wanted to get for Lachlan, with their rough cost indicated. These aren't extravagances or impulsive suggestions - these are things we've looked at for years and made sure they're right for Lachlan. As you can see, with only a few relatively-basic things the costs rocket!
* Height-adjustable bath - from £6,000-£8,000 (this is on top of our 20% contribution to Council-funded home adaptations)
* Specialist supportive armchair - around £2,800
* Off-road wheelchair, with bike attachments (for the beach!) - around £2,800
* Eye-gaze device and tablet (back up & for out and about device)- around £2,500
Thanks to everyone's amazing fundraising efforts, we've managed to raised half our total and Lachlan has been able to get his special bath for his new bathroom, and we were able to purchase an off-road wheelchair (picture below on the beach - impossible without this new chair).
However, nothing in life is ever simple and unfortunately while we have achieved many of the goals we wanted to when we started fundraising, we've had some setbacks. Mainly, well, our builders did this to us.
The cost of the builder going bust has been high, not just financially. We have not reached the final figure, but we estimate that the on-costs of the errors and incomplete work exceeds £7,500 and is probably higher. We've used every penny we can lay our hands on to finish the interior but now we're stuck. We can't finish this project without going out to both friends and kind strangers once again.
We have one major piece of work to complete - the large ramp which is supposed to be at the back of the house. This will allow Lachlan to get into the back garden. It will also allow us to complete the back of the house, which is currently looking like a building site, as you can see from the picture in the link above. We've also still not been able to fund Lachlan's specialist chair for the lounge.
And so...it's time to kick-start the fundraising again.
If you or someone you know can help, if you have any ideas, we'd love to hear from you.
Thanks for reading. Here's hoping we can all make a difference for Lachlan. x
Organizer
Susan Love
Organizer
