Dilly On The Move

Dillon is a 24 year old with a love of music, especially ACDC; he also likes motor racing, being in the water and listening to comedies on TV. He loves the regular things in life.

Dillons life is a bit complicated though as he has a condition of developmental delay, Cerebral palsy, epilepsy, vision impairment, scoliosis of the spine and physically cannot walk unassisted. After numerous operations his condition is now as stable as it can be.

Pre-birth Dillon was not moving much and his mum and dad, Mary and John, made the hard decision to have him early at 32 weeks. Over the weeks, months and years that followed Dillons life has been being put through numerous tests, intensive physiotherapy, occupational therapy and hydrotherapy. He has also had multiple operations on his feet, legs, brain, stomach and spine.
He has been wearing braces on his legs and arms and has been in a wheelchair his whole life. Dillon and his family, especially Mary and John, have a great sense of humour which has helped all of them to get through the endless operations and therapy.

Dillon needs to be lifted for every activity he does, from getting out of bed in the morning, having a shower and getting out of his wheelchair and into the car. Mary and John do the majority of the lifting. When Dillon was young it was easy as he was so little but he now weighs almost 54kg.

For Mary and John lifting Dillon has become a massive strain. Mary has hurt her back on a couple of occasions from lifting Dillon in and out of the car. Mary works in an aged care facility and after having her hours reduced due to business restructuring the last thing she needs is more time off with another injury.
John also has medical issues of his own and has not been working for five years after having two knee replacements.
When both John and Mary were working full time they had saved up enough money to put a deposit down on a house specifically for Dillon. The next step would have been to save up money for a mobility vehicle for Dillon. Unfortunately this never materialised and the savings have dwindled away due to only one of them working part time. Dillon has recently received a new wheelchair and unfortunately it does not fit in their current vehicle.

As a result they choose not to go out into the community as much as they would like as it means lifting Dillon in and out of the car and using his old wheelchair which is not as comfortable for Dillon. This affects the families quality of life and limits the amount of contact they have with the community together.

As a result Mary and John have come up with the crowd funding idea of ‘Dilly on the move”.

They aim to crowd fund about $60,000 to purchase a wheelchair accessible vehicle.

For Dillon this will mean he can access the community more and he can stay in his wheelchair for journeys which is much more comfortable and safer for him than sitting in the front of the car. For Mary and John this will mean relief from a task that is getting ever more difficult. They could then look to the future in the knowledge that in their later years they will still be able to access the community as a family.

Mary and John would greatly appreciate your support for Dillon and his family.