When I first watched this video of Troy and his mum I was speechless. 

We’ve been helping families for 18 months now through I Give A Buck and I’ve heard so many stories of daily struggles and physical injuries to children and parents through lack of proper lifting equipment and bathroom and car modifications.  I thought I understood just how bad it was for these families.  But actually SEEING it rather than just HEARING about it is something else again.

I just cannot understand why these families are left without an adequate level of funding. 

This video was taken a couple of years ago. Troy is now much taller and much heavier than in this video.  He weighs 35Kg and mum just 45Kg. How mum has managed to shower Troy all of these years without both slipping through that shower screen is a mystery to me.  A greater mystery is how successive governments allow situations like this to continue. 

Troy’s family has been fund-raising for years to try to raise the $20,000 needed to have their bathroom modified so that it is wheelchair accessible for Troy. Right now they are still $8,000 short and time is running out.  Troy needs major spinal surgery and simply cannot be lifter during the months of recovery he will face.  His surgery has already been postponed twice.

We’ve launched Troy’s Appeal to help to raise $5,000 of that $8,000 shortfall – and if we can possibly raise the rest we can.

We need your help.  If you have a buck to spare please donate it to Troy’s Appeal. If you have a Facebook page, please share a link to this blog post or to Troy’s Appeal page – we need to spread the word as far and as wide as we can.  We need to get Troy and his mum some relief.

Barb Blashki – Founder

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 conditions – with particular focus on terminally ill children.

Meet Troy.  Troy’s brain was starved of oxygen around the time of his emergency delivery at just 28 weeks gestation.  Troy was left with cerebral palsy affecting all four limbs and is wheelchair bound.  It hasn’t stopped him developing normally in other areas though and his mum tells us that he can talk, and talk, and talk and use a computer better than anyone she knows!

Troy is now 14 years old and weighs 35Kgs which is a LOT of weight for his 45Kg mum to lift and carry – and at the moment that’s what she’s forced to do with Troy when showering and toileting him because the family have not yet been able to have their bathroom modified to allow wheelchair access for Troy due the cost of such a modification.

Having Troy’s mum lifting him is already dangerous for both of them but it’s about to become out of the question; you see Troy has a scoliosis on his spine which must be fixed very soon.  The surgery will leave Troy with a rod in his spine and for a long recovery period he is simply not allowed to be lifted as this will put excess strain on his spine and could cause further damage.

Troy’s surgery has already been delayed twice while the family desperately tried to raise the $20,000 needed for their bathroom modification but it is best for Troy that it isn’t delayed much longer. Unfortunately, the family is still just under $8,000 short – and that doesn’t even include the cost of the hoist system that will transfer Troy from bed to bathroom to use the shower or toilet.

We’ve committed to raise $5,000 for Troy through this appeal – and if we can manage the entire shortfall we will.

If you’d like to help Troy you can hop straight over to his appeal page to find out how – please do.

Long time supporter Scott Grinter says “IGAB is a fantastic, innovative and thought provoking approach to providing help for some really brave and special kids. Barb, Peter and team are an inspiration and I’m happy to help in my small way”