Parents battle to raise £3100 for bed for spina bifida boy

Published on Wednesday 11 March 2009 08:58

MOST parents struggle from time to time to buy the latest equipment and gadgets for their kids, but for Tracy and Stuart Rendall, just buying everyday items for their son Beau can break the bank.

The five-year-old suffers from spina bifida – a condition which means he is paralysed and susceptible to fluid building up in his brain – and needs specialist equipment to help him lead a normal life.

As he grows and faces new challenges, he needs a special profiling bed which can change position, but his mum and dad need to find 3100 to buy it.

The flexibility of the bed will allow Beau, whose story was featured in the Evening News in 2005, to be able to lie down for his physiotherapy, catheterisations and personal hygiene, which, at the moment, are all carried out on top of a chest of drawers. More than anything, Beau needs the bed to help him recover after an impending operation to realign his hips.

The family are now launching a fundraising campaign to find the cash to buy the muchneeded bed for Beau, with help from the Newlife Foundation, a national charity which provides funding for essential equipment for disabled children across the UK.

Mother-of-four Mrs Rendall, from Craigentinny, said: "Beau needs pretty major surgery and he is going to be in a cast from his waist to feet. He will need to be in a fixed position where he is semi-reclined otherwise he wouldn't be able to come out of hospital, hence the need for the profiling bed. At the moment, he can't sit up, he's finding it difficult to crawl about the floor and can't even sit in a wheelchair properly because his legs are so out of alignment and he is getting much worse.

"This operation is absolutely essential as he won't have any independence without it."

The family are desperate to get the bed as soon as possible as they are expecting the operation to take place at the beginning of May.

Mrs Rendall, 41, added: "When we bought his first wheelchair it cost 2200 and that broke the bank and everything keeps getting more and more expensive.

"At the moment, the way things are, we can't afford the bed, but unfortunately with the specialist equipment there's no other option."

The family are already planning fundraising events, which include holding workplace sales selling items donated to the Newlife Foundation, while 100 from the sale of each kitchen from the family business Rendall Kitchens will go straight into the appeal fund.

Neil Preston, the Edinburgh fundraiser for the Newlife Foundation, said:

"We are desperately trying to fund Beau's specialist profiling bed because it will make such a significant difference to Beau and his family's everyday life."

Anyone interested in holding a fundraising event for Beau can contact Neil Preston on 07974-709396. Donations can be made at www.justgiving.com/beau_rendall.