Replace Marayke's stolen phone

I feel gutted that a lousy thief stole Marayke's i-phone  from her lap at the Paratriathlon at the Commonwealth Games. Despite attempting to track the phone it was too late as they had turned GPS tracking locator off. Marayke uses an electric wheelchair and due to her disability  is not able to type and depends on voice activation to operate her phone which acts as her lifeline in many daily activities. It happened at the end of the race as she hugged and congratulated  a Sporting Dreams athlete who had just completed the triathlon. Everyone was watching the medal ceremony in a cordoned off area for spectators. These photos , taken moments before , show the phone on her lap (She was taking photos with it) As her electric wheelchair overheated and broke down Marayke couldn't move till it cooled down and I moved a few metres further up to get a better view of the medal ceremony and take photos so Marayke could see the ceremony . That must have been when the thief struck. I feel sick to the core that this happened to Marayke who founded Sporting Dreams, a charity to assist athletes with Disabilities. She works tirelessly fundraising for this cause and also spent days before volunteering at the Commonwealth Games to ensure all went smoothly for the paratriathletes. Marayke  was Australia's first ever female paratriathlete to compete and medal at a World Championship in 2010 and a retired triple Paralympian in the sport of swimming  with 3 paralympic medals.

Marayke is taking it in her stride, focussing on supporting athletes at the Games but I can see how much she now needs  a new phone with adaptive communications technology for the rest of the Games to not only do simple tasks like send a text message but continue raising awareness of parasport. 

It's imperative Marayke gets a new phone as soon as possible.

I started this fundraising page because of the outcry of support for Marayke with people wanting to know how they can help after they read my Facebook post. Funds raised will be used to replace Marayke's lost phone. 

Any excess funds raised will be donated to  Sporting Dreams .

Thank you so much for caring.


Marion Jonkers ( Marayke's mum)