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Injured Brendon loves his new trike
Brendon Ford has spent the past two years either in a wheelchair or bed bound after suffering horrific injuries when a car knocked him down. Until the fateful day in October 2006 Brendon had been like any other 11-year-old boy - playing with his friends, out on his bike or at football. He was even a keen swimmer and was on his way to the pool near his home in Weston-super-Mare when a car struck him. The crash turned his life upside down, causing a fractured skull and swelling on his brain, which meant a piece of skull was removed to relieve pressure. He also suffered broken ribs, pelvis, shoulder and tibia and fibula bones, his liver split open and he had a large laceration to his right eye. Doctors told his mum that he might not survive and if he did he could bleed to death from the liver injury or end up in a vegetative state.Brendon was a fighter with different ideas and battled on even surviving a cardiac arrest during his 21-month hospital stay. Now 13, he has been home since July but his days are still spent in a wheelchair, which supports his back and head, or in his bed resting.
The Bristol Evening Post and Action For Kids launched an appeal in April to raise funds for a specially adapted trike to allow him more freedom. Over the past few months the trike has been specially adapted to suit Brendon's requirements and it has now been officially presented to him. His little face beamed with delighted when the yellow trike, complete with bell and speedometer, was handed over. He said: "Thank you everyone for my bike, it is the best. I want to go a long way on it, it's fantastic." Donna said the whole family were grateful for the support shown. She said: "We just want to thank everyone, all the sponsors and Action for Kids, who together made the trike possible. He used to go out on his bike all the time and play football. He'll never play football again but at least he can go out on his bike, it will make a huge difference to his life and give him more independence. It means he can now join in with the rest of the family when we go for bike rides."
Action For Kids and The Nielsen Company - a great combination
Eager fundraisers at global information and media company, Nielsen raised over £23,000 for Action For Kids during our Charity of the Year partnership.
Staff from Nielsen have competed in a number of fundraising challenges, including an auction, football tournament, Eurovision song contest and the London Marathon as well as giving their time to volunteer with young disabled people on their Work Related Learning placements.
"It has been a pleasure for Nielsen to support Action for Kids," said Justin Sargent, Managing Director of Nielsen UK. "We hope our contribution will help enable many disabled children and young people to lead full and independent lives.
"Our employees have worked hard to come up with many innovative fundraising activities and the sum raised indicates their hard work and commitment to Action for Kids."
Students from Action For Kids' Work Related Learning scheme, which develops skills that are transferable to employment and taking an active role in the community, received the funds from Nielsen at a cheque presentation event at the Oxford branch.
Lights, Camera, Action!
Action For Kids has made a short promotional film and it in now available to view online!
Click here to watch Action For Kids: The Movie. (This link will open in YouTube).
The short film was made by Katy Egan of Cupcake Productions, an independent production company that specialises in making films for charities.
Actress Lynda Bellingham introduces and narrates the film and Action For Kids students were part of the production team behind the scenes! The film explains and shows the work we do for disabled young people here in London and around the UK.
Please note that Action For Kids is not responsible for any content on YouTube.
Latest raffle winners:
S6 Raffle: 28 November 2008
- Mrs C Clark. Ticket No. 73223
- Mrs D Leonard, Southminster. Ticket No. 60022
- Mrs L Graver, Norfolk. Ticket No. 125021
