Runners raise R60 000 for friend

A GROUP of friends braved the cool weather and took part in the 90km Comrades Marathon 2018 to raise funds for an eight-yearold girl suffering from cerebral palsy.

Isabella Beck, also known as Izzy, from Sandringham, Joburg, needed R60 000 to get an eye tracker device that would allow her to use her eyes to access her communication system.

One of the six runners, Byron Leggett, said: “This will free up the use of her arm and allow for more efficient and effortless communication when playing and engaging with her friends and family.

“The device operating on specific software will allow Izzy to access her communication system through her eye movements and a selection of images and words that will generate a voice output on her command,” Leggett said.

By noon yesterday, the group had raised just over R60 000 through BackaBuddy, a South African fundraising service. The campaign went live on May 14 and R44 859 had been raised by 2pm on Friday.

Leggett said he and his friends were inspired to run the marathon after his wife Nicky, an occupational therapist at LUCCA (Loved, Uplifted, Carefree, Cherished Angels) School, a Randburg-based support and care centre for children with special needs, told him about Isabella.

“We started to realise that the Comrades Marathon is genuinely about the human spirit and how people are pushed to do more than they believe is possible. So we started chatting about how we can use our experience to better someone else’s life,” Leggett said.

“Due to Izzy’s inability to communicate verbally, she is restricted in answering questions in class, and engaging/playing with her friends and cousins. It also prevents her being able to call for help when she is hungry, sore or needs to go to the bathroom. Currently, she communicates with pictures and hand gestures,” he said.

Leggett said Izzy had a “beaming personality, a smile that can melt hearts and an intelligence not to be underestimated.

“Izzy is just the sweetest girl. Her smile is the deal breaker, she laughs when people tell jokes. She is so excited about life; often we complain about such small things, and here you have a little girl who has so many restrictions and yet she never gives up.

“This device will give Izzy a sense of independence, and finally, she will have the ‘voice’ she has always longed for. She will finally be able to indicate when she is tired and needs a nap; she will be able to affectionately argue with her brother, as children do; she will be able to form friendships and tell her parents that she loves them,” Leggett said.