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!

When we met Troy in mid 2011 he was 14 years old and weighed 35Kgs which was a LOT of weight for his 45Kg mum to lift and carry – and that’s what she was forced to do with Troy when showering and toileting him because the family had 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 was already dangerous for both of them but it was about to become out of the question; you see Troy had a scoliosis on his spine which needed to be fixed very soon.  The surgery would leave Troy with a rod in his spine and for a long recovery period he would simply not allowed to be lifted as this would put excess strain on his spine and could cause further damage.

Troy’s surgery had already been delayed twice while the family desperately tried to raise the $20,000 needed for their bathroom modification. Unfortunately, the family was still just under $8,000 short – and that didn’t even include the $11,000 cost of the hoist system that will transfer Troy from bed to bathroom to use the shower or toilet.

Troy’s family created a video a couple of years ago to show just how heart-breakingly difficult it is for his mum to lift him in and out of the car and to shower him in their tiny shower recess which is too small to hold a shower chair. Bear in mind that Troy is even older and heavier now than he was when this is taken.  You can watch this video on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obo4TNVDGNM

In July, we committed to raise $5,000 for Troy – and within two weeks we’d already raised $6,726 so decided to head for the full $8,000. On September 9th we received $2990.70 from Lalor North Secondary School which was conducting some fundraising events for Troy – and they still have another fundraiser to go!

The tally for Troy at the moment is $11,237 so the bathroom costs are covered and we’ve made some inroads towards the hoist costs too.  A big thank you everyone.

Links:  Troy’s story was featured in the Northern Weekly on August 8th – you can see the article online here: http://www.northernweekly.com.au/news/local/news/general/poppys-hope-to-build-a-better-life/2251261.aspx