10 year old Sophie is about to get something very special for Christmas thanks to the generosity of the IGAB community.

Sophie lives in Queensland and has Rett Syndrome, a life limiting condition that affects her very severely – she isn’t able to walk, stand or speak and has problems associated with breathing, digestion and cardiac function. Her parents struggle to control her discomfort and pain levels on a daily basis.

Some of you may remember that we’ve helped Sophie once before. In late 2011 we helped fund some bathroom modifications for Sophie so that a bath could be incorporated – the warm water assists greatly with Sophie’s pain management. You can read about that appeal here: https://www.igiveabuck.org.au/appeals/past-appeals/sophies-bath/

Communicating as effectively as she can through her eyes and limited vocalisations, Sophie’s world is dependent on others caring for her.  One of the things she tries so hard to do, and loves the most, is having friends include her in their games.

To stand and be upright is a huge hurdle in Sophie’s world.

To do so she’d need a special standing frame. It would allow her to interact with her much loved brothers in their games, watch her favourite DVDs and play with her toys, and, more importantly, it would also help strengthen her bones through weight bearing activity, and relieve the discomfort of constantly sitting in her wheelchair.

Sophie’s family had been fundraising for this piece of equipment for some time (through a raffle at their local church, holding barbeques at Woolworths, and donations from wonderful people who have heard about Sophie’s plight).  As a result, they were only $3,000 short of the $8,024 cost of the Jenx Supine Standing Frame she needed.

It’s hard enough to look after a child with a disability such as Sophie’s – and having to sell raffle tickets and run fundraisers is an enormous extra burden on this family.

We launched an appeal to raise the remaining $3,000 needed to buy the Standing Frame for Sophie and within 3 weeks the appeal total had been reached – thanks to a great boost from the proceeds of the Lakeside Cup Charity Golf Day.

Thanks everyone for a fantastic job!