We’ve just paid $2,487.70 towards the wheelchair hoist for Breanna’s car. She’ll be on the road by Friday! 7 year old Breanna was born with Lissencephaly – that same condition that Nate has – and this leaves her with some very serious health issues. Breanna is severely physically and intellectually disabled.  She is unable to sit, walk, play, dance, sing or communicate with her family, all the things little 7 year olds should be doing. She also suffers from epilepsy, has scoliosis, hearing loss, is fed via a gastronomy tube into her tummy and requires suctioning to help protect her airways. Frequent respiratory illnesses are a major issue for Breanna – as is osteoporosis which recently caused her to suffer a fracture because her bones have never been able to weight bear. When we met Breanna in July 2011 she was at a point in her development that required her family to make some major changes in order to keep her, and themselves, safe and healthy. As Breanna gets older, she gets heavier and her bones become more brittle.  Lifting her by hand puts too much stress on her bones and puts her at serious risk of more fractures, and puts her mum, Shannan, at serious risk of injury too. Mum is her full-time carer and it is critical that she maintains her own health so that she can look after Breanna’s vast and complex needs. Breanna was at an age where she had grown out of her car seat and there were no seats available that would be either big enough for her, or would offer her the sufficient postural support to enable her to breathe efficiently or comfortably. Breanna’s physiotherapist had said it was time for the family to purchase a desperately needed van that could offer wheel-in, wheel-out access for Breanna and her wheelchair. With such a vehicle, Breanna could be safely transported to her regular hospital appointments and therapy sessions and could better access the community in general, allowing her to attend a special school and to visit family and friends.  Breanna’s family had a vehicle to use as a trade –in but there was still a large shortfall in the funds required to purchase the wheelchair van.  So we decided to help to get Breanna back on the road and Breanna’s Appeal originally sought to raise $5,000 towards the cost of the van. Well! Within four weeks over $26,000 had come flooding into Breanna’s Appeal and a second hand van came on the market that was just perfect.  Once the owner read about Breanna’s story he even dropped the price!  We managed to buy the car for the family on August 2nd and continued raising funds to go towards the wheelchair hoist to get Breanna in and out.  Our appeals run for 6 weeks so we kept Breanna’s Appeal open until August 15th, 2011 and managed to raise $2,487.70 towards the hoist. The generosity of this wonderful community of donors, and of Breanna’s friends, family and local community has been just staggering and everybody that contributed should feel VERY proud.  A truly wonderful thing has been achieved. Australian children’s charity I Give A Buck Foundation of Australia Ltd assists children from disadvantaged families who also suffer from a life-threatening or life-altering illness or condition – with particular focus on terminally ill children.