There’s one happy young man at Mylo’s house, as adaptations to the 5-year-old’s home reach completion point for ‘Mylo's new downstairs bedroom’.
As Mylo’s parents advised at the start of their fundraising journey:
“We are so proud of Mylo and all he has achieved to date. He is our own little warrior. To be able to give him what he needs and deserves in life is all we can ask for – to allow him to have the best life he can.”
To facilitate this though, the family established that although their property was suitable for a stair lift, now and longer term that wouldn’t meet Mylo’s needs or requirements and that downstairs living would be best for him.
This meant having to build an extension on the family home for a bedroom plus a wash/wet room facility for Mylo. This would allow him to have the best possible life and independence that any child should have – but at a cost of £36,000 above the council grant awarded towards the works.
So, the family set about fundraising through Sullivan’s Heroes – with numerous events and activities carried out throughout the journey.
Not least, Mylo’s intrepid Dad David, who undertook a 25-minute shark dive at Deep Sea World, in Fife – free diving, with no cage!
Getting up close and personal with the sharks, rays and other inhabitants of the tank, David expressed that it was a perfect fit considering Mylo loves the song ‘baby shark’!
The fundraising continued with friends and family taking on challenges, such as Patricia who took part in a sponsored abseil from the dizzy heights of the roof of the home of Scottish Rugby Union – Murrayfield Stadium, in Edinburgh. This in turn was fund-matched by her employer Royal Bank of Scotland and Natwest, who has a long-standing partnership with the Scottish Rugby Union – generously matching the funds raised through Patricia’s abseiling achievement as part of their ‘Do Good Feel Good Services’.
Other organisations also kindly providing support included Enterprise RAC UK Limited, whilst fundraiser Kenny’s endeavours were generously fund-matched by his employer Bank of Scotland Foundation together with Lloyds Banking Group.
Donations were also received with the aid of a feature in the family’s local Stirling Observer and Daily Record newspapers, detailing the adaptation project requirements and the difficulties the family were facing on a daily basis in meeting Mylo’s needs.
Mylo’s Mum gives us further background on the need for the home extension:
“As Mylo is unable to walk, this was causing a lot of manual lifting to be done by myself and Mylo’s Father. This was proving to be a struggle as the day went on, lifting him up and downstairs.”
Having reached their target for works to get underway for the project, Mylo even lent a helping hand to proceedings himself, as the extension began to take shape!
Mylo’s family give us an insight on how Sullivan’s Heroes helped them througout the fundraising journey they encountered:
“We gained a lot of support and understanding as well as the platform to successfully raise the funds we required, with a trusted network and platform that individuals weren't scared to provide funds to.”
“This provided the individuals the safety net to feel comfortable that when they gave money, they know it was genuine.”
“Sullivan’s Heroes kept in touch, reached out to people, provided updates on their pages.”
“Without Sullivans Heroes, I feel families might struggle to kick start their fundraising and think of lots of ideas and have the network available to be successful.”
And now completed, we’re delighted to hear that the new spaces have provided a world of difference for Mylo as his parents explain:
“Mylo now bum shuffles and has a new lease of independence and can now take himself to his room to play with toys and not wait on us to be able to move him to his room.”
“Mylo is now fully able to make his own choices and pick where he wants to go and when he wants to do things, now that all he requires is on the ground floor.”
