Team T4T is a team made up of a group of Hong Kong based riding buddies. This year we are heading to the annual around Lake Taupo cycle challenge in New Zealand. We all have full time jobs but we tend to have competitive personalities and are always looking for that extra motivation. When talking as a group the idea of using the event to raise funds for a worthy cause came about, thus not only providing motivation but at the same time being able to pay it forward.
We then spoke with one of the team riders and his wife about using the ride to raise funds to go towards their son Thomas. You can read more about the amazing young man Thomas is below and see for yourself we are super excited and proud to be riding for him. The event then officially became "Taupo 4 Thomas" and Team T4T was a go.
Riders will set personal goal times with an associated sponsorship level and then train towards reaching this goal. While riders will sponsor themselves we are also looking for as much support from family and friends to make our first event a success. To keep things exciting if we don't hit our goal times the clock still runs and Thomas will receive bonus donations.
We are off to a great start already and really lucky to have great support from corporate sponsors in both our local community and overseas. Special thanks to CCN Sport, MooFish Restaurant, Nailed it DB, River Wine and Restaurant, GMC Coaching and Foil Wheels.
Please show your support and help us do Thomas proud!
Thanks Team T4T.
A message from Tom's family...
Thomas, or Tom as he likes to be called…is our fourth child and he is 10 years old. He has a gorgeous twin sister Sophie, an older brother Riley who is 12 and a big sister Sarah who is 15. He suffered a severe brain injury at birth which has resulted in the diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy, Grade 5. Despite his obvious challenges (Tom uses a wheelchair and a most amazing communication device that he operates with his eyes!) to move around the place and communicate with friends, family and his classmates.
Thomas brings so much joy to all those around him. He has a smile that lights up a room and a funny and sensitive personality. He is slightly addicted to Candy Crush and although he is unable to play it himself…he watches endless hours of YouTube videos of other people playing it!
We are so touched and grateful to this group of Hong Kong riders who want to help support Thomas and our family through this fundraising effort. There a many things that we would love to be able to afford for Thomas to make his life even more inclusive and enable him to reach his full potential. As parents we want all of our children to feel that they have value in the world and be as independent as possible, and this is no different when it comes to parenting Thomas.
We have included Thomas in some of the decision making with regards to the Around Lake Taupo ride. He was able to choose what colours he would like the rider’s kit to be and he enjoyed hearing about and looking at the designs for the kit. So I wanted to have to have a say about what he would love to have that would make his life easier, happier or more joyful.
As parents, there are so many things we want for him. Some are things to improve his social and emotional health (and stop him telling us every weekend “I am bored. I am bored. What are we going to do today?!!) Others are related to technology, communication and independence. These are the suggestions we came up with. I talked through all of these ideas and showed him videos of all 3 ideas. Then I asked him what HE would love to have. And when you get to the bottom of this message…you will see what he picked!
WISH 1
HIPPOCAMPE WHEELCHAIR ($5500 AUS)
When we all go to the beach (this is quite often considering we live in a very hot and tropical climate), it breaks my heart to see Tom have to sit on the beach and watch his brother and sisters swim and have fun in the water. It is always a struggle to get him on the beach in his wheelchair as we don’t have the special wheels that make it easier to push on sand. And even then…carrying a 20kg child in the waves isn’t the easiest thing in the world. And it will only get more challenging as he grows taller and heavier. The hippocampe is a specially designed wheelchair that is light and portable and is able to be used on the beach and also in the water. It actually floats!! This would enable Thomas to fully access the beach and even go into the water with the support of his chair. You can even put skis on the front and push it through the snow. Pretty awesome!
Beach wheelchair
WISH 2
· PC EYE GO ($1995 AUS)
· 12 inch Windows Tablet ($700 AUS)
· Mount n Mover wheelchair mount ($1500 AUS)
Currently Tom uses an eye gaze communication device that is simply incredible. For a child who is unable to speak or use a traditional mouse and keyboard, he is able to access the internet, type and spell all with his eyes. He was introduced to this technology when he was around 4 and a half and has been blazing away ever since! But he is ready for the next step. As we head into the last couple of years of primary school, and high school looming it is increasingly important for Tom to be able to research, create documents, make power point presentations, email, send and receive messages, access social media, the list is endless. One way to do this is through new technology called PC Eye Go. This is a very small eye gaze tracking device that can attach to a windows computer, laptop or tablet. Once attached…this computer/laptop/tablet is now completely accessible with only your eyes. We would love for Tom to be able to have the whole world at his “eyes” and then, the skies the limit. We would look to purchase a large tablet that could then be mounted to his wheelchair and he could access this, as well as his communication device when needed. The “mount” we would need to purchase is a mount that can take several devices at once. At the moment he has one mount that his communication device is attached to. But if he wanted to use and ipad or a phone, or read a book or access the internet, he would need to change the mounting plates and then have one thing at a time. With this mount…we could have all his technology available to him at his “eyes”.
PCEye
WISH 3
POWER WHEELCHAIR
Thomas is fortunate enough to have a special friend who has let him borrow her power wheelchair. We used this is an experiment to see if Thomas had enough control with his head to operate a power chair. Most of you would see people controlling power wheelchairs with a joystick. Unfortunately for Thomas, he just doesn’t have enough control of his arms or hands for this to even be a possibility. So he has a special headrest that has sensors inside of the headrest that make the power wheelchair go left, right, forwards and backwards when he moves his head. With lots of practice he is getting pretty good at driving and can now make his way around many parts of his school with reasonable accuracy. We would obviously love to be able to purchase a power wheelchair for Tom. In a “fantasy” world…we would love a chair that can not only drive, but can also raise up. I just think about how powerful it would be for him to be able to look his peers in the eyes. Let alone the freedom to be able to put himself in a higher position to be able to see the animals at the zoo or sit at the breakfast bar while we are cooking dinner.
Jerry Powerwheelchair
What does Tom want??
Of course…we would love to give Thomas the world. But realistically…we have 3 other children and so we have to prioritize. But as we love to give Thomas a “voice” and a say in his life, I asked him what it was out of all these things that he would really love. And he said…
The PC EYE Go, or in Thomas talk “I want the computer”.
So he isn’t much different to any other 10 year old boy. Technology wins the day! And our hope is that with this new technology he could even play Candy Crush by himself!!! Now that would be a real win. :)
Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to read and learn a bit more about our boy.
From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you so very much.
Merridy, Rick, Sarah, Riley, Sophie and of course Thomas AKA "Tom"
We then spoke with one of the team riders and his wife about using the ride to raise funds to go towards their son Thomas. You can read more about the amazing young man Thomas is below and see for yourself we are super excited and proud to be riding for him. The event then officially became "Taupo 4 Thomas" and Team T4T was a go.
Riders will set personal goal times with an associated sponsorship level and then train towards reaching this goal. While riders will sponsor themselves we are also looking for as much support from family and friends to make our first event a success. To keep things exciting if we don't hit our goal times the clock still runs and Thomas will receive bonus donations.
We are off to a great start already and really lucky to have great support from corporate sponsors in both our local community and overseas. Special thanks to CCN Sport, MooFish Restaurant, Nailed it DB, River Wine and Restaurant, GMC Coaching and Foil Wheels.
Please show your support and help us do Thomas proud!
Thanks Team T4T.
A message from Tom's family...
Thomas, or Tom as he likes to be called…is our fourth child and he is 10 years old. He has a gorgeous twin sister Sophie, an older brother Riley who is 12 and a big sister Sarah who is 15. He suffered a severe brain injury at birth which has resulted in the diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy, Grade 5. Despite his obvious challenges (Tom uses a wheelchair and a most amazing communication device that he operates with his eyes!) to move around the place and communicate with friends, family and his classmates.
Thomas brings so much joy to all those around him. He has a smile that lights up a room and a funny and sensitive personality. He is slightly addicted to Candy Crush and although he is unable to play it himself…he watches endless hours of YouTube videos of other people playing it!
We are so touched and grateful to this group of Hong Kong riders who want to help support Thomas and our family through this fundraising effort. There a many things that we would love to be able to afford for Thomas to make his life even more inclusive and enable him to reach his full potential. As parents we want all of our children to feel that they have value in the world and be as independent as possible, and this is no different when it comes to parenting Thomas.
We have included Thomas in some of the decision making with regards to the Around Lake Taupo ride. He was able to choose what colours he would like the rider’s kit to be and he enjoyed hearing about and looking at the designs for the kit. So I wanted to have to have a say about what he would love to have that would make his life easier, happier or more joyful.
As parents, there are so many things we want for him. Some are things to improve his social and emotional health (and stop him telling us every weekend “I am bored. I am bored. What are we going to do today?!!) Others are related to technology, communication and independence. These are the suggestions we came up with. I talked through all of these ideas and showed him videos of all 3 ideas. Then I asked him what HE would love to have. And when you get to the bottom of this message…you will see what he picked!
WISH 1
HIPPOCAMPE WHEELCHAIR ($5500 AUS)
When we all go to the beach (this is quite often considering we live in a very hot and tropical climate), it breaks my heart to see Tom have to sit on the beach and watch his brother and sisters swim and have fun in the water. It is always a struggle to get him on the beach in his wheelchair as we don’t have the special wheels that make it easier to push on sand. And even then…carrying a 20kg child in the waves isn’t the easiest thing in the world. And it will only get more challenging as he grows taller and heavier. The hippocampe is a specially designed wheelchair that is light and portable and is able to be used on the beach and also in the water. It actually floats!! This would enable Thomas to fully access the beach and even go into the water with the support of his chair. You can even put skis on the front and push it through the snow. Pretty awesome!
Beach wheelchair
WISH 2
· PC EYE GO ($1995 AUS)
· 12 inch Windows Tablet ($700 AUS)
· Mount n Mover wheelchair mount ($1500 AUS)
Currently Tom uses an eye gaze communication device that is simply incredible. For a child who is unable to speak or use a traditional mouse and keyboard, he is able to access the internet, type and spell all with his eyes. He was introduced to this technology when he was around 4 and a half and has been blazing away ever since! But he is ready for the next step. As we head into the last couple of years of primary school, and high school looming it is increasingly important for Tom to be able to research, create documents, make power point presentations, email, send and receive messages, access social media, the list is endless. One way to do this is through new technology called PC Eye Go. This is a very small eye gaze tracking device that can attach to a windows computer, laptop or tablet. Once attached…this computer/laptop/tablet is now completely accessible with only your eyes. We would love for Tom to be able to have the whole world at his “eyes” and then, the skies the limit. We would look to purchase a large tablet that could then be mounted to his wheelchair and he could access this, as well as his communication device when needed. The “mount” we would need to purchase is a mount that can take several devices at once. At the moment he has one mount that his communication device is attached to. But if he wanted to use and ipad or a phone, or read a book or access the internet, he would need to change the mounting plates and then have one thing at a time. With this mount…we could have all his technology available to him at his “eyes”.
PCEye
WISH 3
POWER WHEELCHAIR
Thomas is fortunate enough to have a special friend who has let him borrow her power wheelchair. We used this is an experiment to see if Thomas had enough control with his head to operate a power chair. Most of you would see people controlling power wheelchairs with a joystick. Unfortunately for Thomas, he just doesn’t have enough control of his arms or hands for this to even be a possibility. So he has a special headrest that has sensors inside of the headrest that make the power wheelchair go left, right, forwards and backwards when he moves his head. With lots of practice he is getting pretty good at driving and can now make his way around many parts of his school with reasonable accuracy. We would obviously love to be able to purchase a power wheelchair for Tom. In a “fantasy” world…we would love a chair that can not only drive, but can also raise up. I just think about how powerful it would be for him to be able to look his peers in the eyes. Let alone the freedom to be able to put himself in a higher position to be able to see the animals at the zoo or sit at the breakfast bar while we are cooking dinner.
Jerry Powerwheelchair
What does Tom want??
Of course…we would love to give Thomas the world. But realistically…we have 3 other children and so we have to prioritize. But as we love to give Thomas a “voice” and a say in his life, I asked him what it was out of all these things that he would really love. And he said…
The PC EYE Go, or in Thomas talk “I want the computer”.
So he isn’t much different to any other 10 year old boy. Technology wins the day! And our hope is that with this new technology he could even play Candy Crush by himself!!! Now that would be a real win. :)
Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to read and learn a bit more about our boy.
From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you so very much.
Merridy, Rick, Sarah, Riley, Sophie and of course Thomas AKA "Tom"