Facebook post leads to new car to help Karina McDonald and her little boy Jake, who has quadriplegic cerebral palsy

When Karina McDonald innocently posted a picture of her little boy at a playground she never expected the stirring chain reaction it would cause.

When Tea Tree mum Karina McDonald innocently posted a picture of a fun day out with her little boy at a local playground she never expected the stirring chain reaction it would cause.

Six-year-old Jake has severe quadriplegic cerebral palsy and is non-verbal and non-mobile but loves to socialise and play.

So Ms McDonald, as most do, tagged the friends who had been at the playground with her, and her children Jake and Sienna, 8.

From there the post was viewed by Adelaide lawyer Jason Coluccio who was touched by the image of the little boy in a wheelchair.

The generous legal practitioner reached out to see if there was anything Jake’s family needed to make life a little easier – there was, a bigger car.

Karina McDonald and her children Sienna, 8, and son Jake, 6, who has cerebral palsy and their new van, which was fundraised by stranger. Picture: Mark Brake

Mr Coluccio, along with business partner Greg Welden and several other big-hearted locals, including Kookaburra Homes’ Steve Walker, wasted no time organising a fundraiser for the family, raising more than $50,000.

“It has been an absolute rollercoaster, I was hoping, at best, for a second hand car, a deposit to decrease a loan or reduce my super withdrawal,” she said.

“This is mind-blowing and I am still trying to find the words … for strangers to do this for our family, it is just amazing.

“The comfort and ease this will add to our days is immeasurable.”

Ms McDonald collected the car, a 2020 Kia Carnival, on Thursday and it will be sent to Melbourne to be modified when she gets the approval for funding through the NDIS.

The family had been managing in a small sedan.

“I would need to dismantle Jake’s wheelchair into three pieces each time we went anywhere and then have to shimmy it around to get it to fit in the boot – sometimes, I would have to do that up to six times a day if we are going in and out for appointments,” the 38-year-old single mum said.

“Sometime Sienna would see my struggling and try to do it for me which was beautiful but heartbreaking at the same time.”

Ms McDonald said the new transport would allow the family to do more everyday things.

“As a family it will just allow us to go away on trips, everything will be a lot more accessible for us … it will allow us to do things such as call into a friends for a cuppa as before it was just too much effort,” she said.