Balgowlah Lions Club buys wheelchair accessible van for girl with life-threatening condition
Balgowlah Lions Club have handed over a wheelchair accessible van to the mother of a six-year-old girl with Cerebral Palsy and other life threatening illnesses.
Manly
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A wheelchair accessible car has been handed over to the mother of a quadriplegic girl with multiple life threatening conditions.
Mother Kate Agnihotri of Beacon Hill said she reached out to the community services organisation Balgowlah Lions Club as a last resort after running into funding difficulties.
Prior to being gifted the van she was driving a sedan which required her to lift her daughter in and out of the car and install medical equipment which could take over an hour a day.
“I was really excited when they said they’d help out with fundraising which means she can get out and about now,” Ms Agnihotri said.
“We weren’t able to do long trips with all of her equipment we had so this makes it easier for me to transport her to medical appointments. It’s been life changing.”
Kareena, 6, suffers from Cerebral Palsy Quadriplegia and Epilepsy. She is also considered “legally blind” and is tube fed.
“She’s a very social little girl so being isolated isn’t ideal so we are very grateful to the Lions Club for all their help.
“I still can’t believe what they’ve done for us. It has been very hard two years but this is going to make a huge difference.”
She said her daughter’s life expectancy has been cut short because of her medical conditions, but she hopes to make the most of the time they still have together.
“The main thing is I want her to feel happy and loved every day. She’s a very happy girl, I feel blessed to have her.
“She has such an innocent soul and she’s changed my life and my perspective.”
The Lions club handed over the keys to the van last Wednesday.
Lions Zone Chairman Bruce McLaren said the club were moved by the local family’s story and spent a year raising the funds so they could purchase the van and hand it over.
It involved eight Lion clubs coming together including the branches in Manly, Frenchs Forest, St Ives, Mosman, Bondi, Blacktown and Parramatta.
“So we made investigations and found we could get her into a second hand renovated vehicle for about $29,000 so that seemed to be achievable from a financial point of view,” Mr McLaren said.
“We thought we could raise $14,000 and approached Australian Lions Foundation which promised to donate $14,000. We were only about $3,000 short so we approached our other clubs who helped.”
The family has been granted exclusive use of the vehicle, which is now part of the Cerebral Palsy Alliance’s vehicle fleet.
“It was a nice feeling to be able to do something like that for the family. It will make a huge difference to the mother and the little girl and will make life that much easier for them.”
Cerebral Palsy Alliance will pay for green slips, registration and insurance each year for the Agnihotri family.