Hi, I’m Gill. I am Leo’s mum. Leo was an incredibly resilient little boy who had a very rare and complex life-shortening condition called Ohtahara Syndrome. Children diagnosed with Ohtahara Syndrome are not expected to live past their second birthday. Leo defied those odds and survived until he was six and a half years old.

After Leo died, I started volunteering for The St Andrews Beach Wheelchairs as some of our happiest memories with Leo were our beach days. As Leo was profoundly disabled, he required more spinal and head support than standard beach wheelchairs offer. Luckily, the St Andrews Beach Wheelchairs had the  ‘Nomad Desert’ beach wheelchair, which allowed Leo to access the beach whilst remaining in his own chair. We simply pushed him on using the small ramps, secured his chair in place and off we went! 

Sadly, the Nomad chair has been out of commission since late last summer, which means every other child in Leo’s position isn’t able to get on to our beautiful beach. I am hoping that we can raise enough to buy another and open the beach up to families in the same position as us, to let them experience the same wonderful times that we did. 

They cost £4,000 so any help you can give us would be hugely appreciated xx