Mum of severely disabled Leeds boy urges people to back PhysCap charity hit by funding crisis

Luke Andrews, of Meanwood, has Down's syndrome and learning and physical disabilities.

The 50 year old PhysCap charity bought Luke a £680 car seat and specialist £1,182 trike, which his mum Cherie says has boosted his confidence and self esteem.

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The car seat means Luke can now go on trips safely with his family and the new trike means he is able to join in family walks.

Cherie, 48, who now works as a health visitor, was a learning disability nurse for 28 years and signposed dozens of families to PhysCap before she was a mum.

PhysCap faces an uncertain future after the majority of its fundraising events in 2020 were cancelled due to the Covid pandemic.

The charity and its supporters are calling on communities and businesses across Yorkshire to donate and enable it to continue to help families.

Luke, who suffers from hypotonia and hypermobility, was able to wriggle out of an ordinary car seat.

Cherie said: "That was quite scary. He was escaping, which is your worst nightmare as a parent.

"You are driving along and and you can see your child getting out of the car seat and climbing around on the back seat.

"PhysCap being able to fund that car seat was a massive relief.

"The fact that you can apply to PhysCap and get financial support is so important for families.

"Luke can't use a typical bike as he needs a lot of support.

"He doesn't walk for long distances, because of his hypotonia and hypermobility he gets tired very easily.

"It helps us all as a family having that support to buy the trike. Now we can go out for walks and if Luke gets tired he can get on his trike and have a rest.

"It has built up his confidence and his self esteem."

Cherie said: " He is a really happy, adventurous outgoing boy, but part of his condition means he is functioning at a much younger age developmentally.

"He is nine, but developmentally he is like a three or four year old. He needs a lot of support from us as parents."

Cherie works part time and her husband Richard, 39, is a full time secondary school teacher.

She said: "For a lot of the families that have children with disabilities, it's relentless. It is 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

"You are not just a parent, you are a carer as well. It's that emotional and physical responsibility you feel.

"Luke needs a lot of help with his physical care still. He needs help to go to the bathroom and he needs help dressing and undressing."

Cherie is appealing to businesses to consider donating cash to PhysCap that would usually have been spent on a Christmas party.

PhysCap is a volunteer-led charity set up in 1973 to support physically and mentally disabled children across Yorkshire.

It has raised more than £1.7m to help local children and their families living with a disability.

In 2019 alone, PhysCap raised more than £90,000 which funded 78 families across the Yorkshire region and a further 200 children in supported schools.

The charity, which is led by Chairman Daniel Gray and a team of dedicated volunteers, donates 100 per cent of all proceeds raised through funding initiatives directly to children in need of their support.

Mr Gray said “The last nine months of the pandemic has clearly hindered everything that we do, which is why we are now faced with the scenario of reaching out to Yorkshire businesses to help us in these very uncertain times.

"As a committee, we are so dedicated to the work that we do in helping families across the Yorkshire region who are in need of financial support.

"PhysCap receives funding requests on a daily basis and of late we have been inundated by the number of occupational therapists writing to us about the children they look after.

"No matter whether a child is suffering from physical or mental disabilities, we are seen as a last resort to help them and for so many years we have done exactly that.

"The feeling is indescribable when we are able to say yes to any family that we have visited and the joy we give back to others is so rewarding."

Earlier on this year, PhysCap was faced with the scenario during the first lockdown that all of the manufacturers where much of the equipment is sourced from were closed.

Mr Gray said: “This ultimately meant that even if we could have supported families requests, they wouldn’t have got the equipment, so for a number of months we were unable to do what we love to do in giving back.

"In all my years as chairman I have never known a time where we have had our hands tied from helping families.

“The problem we face in the current climate is that the money we are now spending, is outweighing the money coming as we cannot put on any fundraising events.

"With that in mind, we remain very cautious as a committee to our outgoing expenditure.

“At the rate we give out money, anything from £5,000 to £15,000 per month, I am sure you will agree that the pot will significantly diminish in 2021, so we are actively working on fresh fundraising ideas.

"We have so many wonderful supporters across the Yorkshire region and we are eternally grateful for their ongoing support, but for obvious reasons we need more people to help us in whatever financial capacity, so that we can continue to help such wonderful children like Luke."

Click here to donate and for more information on PhysCap.