About us
The Cerebral Palsy Trust was created at the start of 2020, by a group of students at Wellington college who wanted to raise awareness and support for the cerebral palsy community.
This idea began when David Lofthouse, who was born with Cerebral Palsy, decided to walk the Kingsleys (a famous run which takes place at the end of the Lent term, which concludes in running through Swan Lake)! This 5km walk took him just under 10 hours and had the support of the whole school!!! It was an incredible feat!
David’s story:
David who is now studying at Warwick university, had watched for two years, his peers run this course and decided that he wanted to take part as well. For David this was a huge feat and meant that he would walk on his crutches for 5km! David who was born with Cerebral Palsy was told at the age of 2 that he would never walk or possibly talk and to this day David has continuously proven these Doctors wrong! One reason David is now able to walk with crutches and live a more comfortable life was due to a life changing surgery which he had at the age of 6. This surgery took place at St Louis Children’s hospital in the US where he had a Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy surgery. This surgery to the average person is incredibly hard to get and took David and his family many years to fundraise for and in some cases cost over £100,000.
When David decided to take on this challenge, we decided to turn this walk into a charitable cause! Our aim was to raise £70,000 to enable 1 or maybe 2 people to have the same life changing surgery David had, here in the UK! At this current moment we stand at about £260,000 and our target is to help fund multiple surgeries by the end of 2022! With the birth of this fundraiser, this created the Cerebral Palsy Trust.
Our Aims:
As a charitable cause we aim to provide services and a voice to the forgotten people who have Cerebral Palsy and as this cause is very close to the Picton and Wellington we saw our support grow hugely last year, to the thanks of the Wellington community. During May 2021, David completed his walk in just under 10 hours with overwhelming support from the whole community.
One of our primary focuses for the future, is to act as their voice and share many people's stories. We feel there isn't a platform for people with Cerebral Palsy to voice their experiences, thus we want to be able to offer this service to those who have the condition. As well as this, we aim to be able to support children in the future to be able to have the same life changing surgery David had.
GOSH:
In July we formed a partnership with Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. This leading institution will help take the money we have raised and give it to the children who desperately need this operation, but simply cannot afford it. When speaking to the incredible team behind this surgery, we asked what differences they see in the children when they finish the treatment.
They responded: "It simply changes the child's life and makes them happier".
To start life like these children takes incredible perseverance and strength. We want to help them in their journey and prove the world, that there are no boundaries to disability and, in David’s words, that you should never let anyone tell you, you can't do something.
It has been a hugely emotional journey to get to where we are, but we couldn’t have done it without the support of the whole Wellington community. So, thank you everyone for all the encouragement and backing over the last 3 years!!
We are also extremely proud to announce that after years of hard work and fundraising, the first child had their surgery on the 2nd of November 2022!!
We now look forward to helping even more children, as 5 more surgeries will hopefully take place in the next year or so!
We would like to thank you for taking the time to read about us and hope you have a look at our social media account as well.
Thank you,
The Cerebral Palsy Trust