A MELKSHAM family has said a huge thank you to everyone who has helped them raise £17,000 for their six year-old nephew Eli who has a very rare neurological virus and is on life support in New Zealand.
Becki de Voogd along with family and friends, set about a fundraising campaign to raise £10,000 to be able to move Eli from a children’s hospital in Auckland to his home 400 miles away.
Becki said, “We ran the Monster Race and managed to raise a huge £17,000! We were aiming for £10,000 which we achieved online during the race but since then the online fundraising has just been going crazy!
“We wanted to donate some of the money to Ronald McDonald and The Starship Foundation. Ronald McDonald have been a huge help to Matt and Tracey. They provide them with a house and food whilst they stay in Auckland which has taken many day-to-day stresses away from them and The Starship Foundation is a social-profit organisation which raises funds for Starship Children’s Health which provides healthcare for children and young people.
“We have already been contacted by The Starship Hospital in Auckland and the nurses caring for Eli in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit are choosing the equipment that they need most. The other money will help get Eli home next year. The money is obviously very important but the support from everyone here locally and also globally – we’ve had lovely messages from Africa, Canada, Norway, Greece – is what really matters.
Eli was shown a video of Team Eli racing, in the yellow t-shirts that he chose himself and he absolutely loved it! He feels so amazed that so many people are trying to help him. It was worth every single muddy second to watch the smiles on his face and hear him thank everybody for their efforts. The team last Saturday was just fantastic. Everybody played their part from swimming in the swamps, to setting up refreshments, to videoing the event.
“A huge thank you to everyone who raced, to everyone who donated and to Sainsbury’s for donating after race doughnuts.
“I thought we would just raise £10,000 and once we had set the target we were determined to reach it to show Eli that we meant it. I never dreamed we would make £17,000 and it’s still rising.
“The generosity of everyone has been so overwhelming; it makes an extremely difficult situation more bearable. Just knowing that Eli is enjoying the photos and video of the event and that he can help present a cheque to the two charities who have helped him so much, that means the world.”
The online page will be active until Christmas www.gofundme.com/ helpandhopeforeli
