Tadley Fire Fighters reigniting stretcher challenge in aid of Oliver
In August 2016, Firefighters from Tadley Fire Station, with help from colleagues and friends, carried a stretcher from Rushmoor Fire station, 55 miles back to Tadley Fire Station in 24 hours via 10 fire stations to raise money for #oliversdream. On August 24th and 25th 2018, Firefighters from Tadley Fire Station are reigniting the challenge, but this time carrying a stretcher from Southsea Fire Station, 70 miles back to Tadley Fire Station in a maximum of 48 hours via 9 total fire stations to help raise more money to this very worthy and community focussed cause. Any donations would be greatly appreciated, and will go towards making an enormous difference to a local family. It will help pay for bespoke equipment and housing modifications to help safely care for Oliver and his family. You can follow any updates and progress on Twitter @tadley12 or following the hashtags #oliversdream and #southseatotadley Oliver is a local Tadley boy, who has a rare brain condition called Lissencephaly (smooth brain). This is a degenerative condition with many children passing before reaching 10 years old. He suffers from Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease as well as severe uncontrollable epilepsy and reoccurring chest infections. As a result of his conditions, Oliver has the development level of a 3-6 month old. He is completely non verbal. He cannot sit or stand unless supported and has very very little use of his limbs or hands/feet. He is also double incontinent. He has to be tube fed and his seizures occur 4-5 times a day, at any time with no warning. Therefore he is totally reliant on his parents for his care. His parents have no hoisting equipment, or easy washing facilities for Oliver. They have to carry him up and down the stairs, lifting him in and out of bed and bath. He also has to be lifted in and out of his various seating/standing equipment and carried to and from the car which has to be parked on the road away from the house. This massive amount of lifting and moving has caused his parents to suffer themselves, mainly back pain which his mother has to be medicated for. His parents have applied for a DFG (Disabled Facilities Grant) to provide a downstairs bedroom with shower facilities, hoisting equipment, widening of doorways as well as access to the property and a driveway. However the planned cost of all this necessary work came in at £60,000 with the local authority only able to award the maximum of £30,000 and only once the total sum of £60,000 for the work had been raised. With no way for the family to raise the additional £30,000, sacrifices had to be made the plans to bring the costs down to £46,000 meaning only £16,000 needs to be raised. But the sacrifices mean that there is no inclusion for a driveway, a smaller bedroom with minimal washing facilities, no widening of doorways and property access only via the rear of the property which will cause issues as Oliver continues to grow. These changes would dramatically change Oliver’s family’s day to day life, making the essential care of Oliver much easier which is vital to family themselves. This also gives him the indispensable time to be part of the family creating beautiful memories. Oliver and his family would be massively grateful for any donations received. Thankful wouldn’t come close to how they would feel, they would be indebted to you forever as this really is life changing.
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