Lockyers raise $89k for specialist surgery
A LOCKYER Valley family has raised almost $89,000 for lifesaving technology at the Queensland Children’s Hospital after doctors miraculously saved their son’s hand after a freak accident.
The Porter family – Shelley, Michael and their sons Maddox and Ashton – were shocked when they learnt the advanced technology that saved their son’s hand wasn’t readily available at the QCH.
Thanks to their significant fundraising efforts on Thursday, the QCH will now have a dedicated satellite site where advanced surgeons and technicians from the Australian Centre for Complex Integrated Surgical Solutions will operate.
And, the centre will be named after Maddox.
On Easter Sunday 2018, Maddox and his brother Ashton were helping Mrs Porter mow the lawns.
The kids were sitting next to Mrs Porter on the ride-on lawnmower when they hit a rocky patch causing Maddox’s left hand to fall under the mower blades.
Maddox, seven at the time, was flown by Lifeflight to the QCH and went into surgery about 9pm.
Recalling the incident, Mrs Porter said “everything was chaotic” when she arrived at the hospital in the chopper with her son.
“We had no idea what the outcome would be, we just expected he would no longer have a hand, and that was something I was struggling to come to terms with,” Mrs Porter said.
About midnight, the Porter family received a call from Dr Michael Wagels, who was operating on their son.
“This is a call I’ll never forget,” Mrs Porter said.
“After a few short moments, I felt a sense of calm and relief come over me and I knew everything was going to be OK.”
Maddox went through 17 hours of gruelling surgery, and has had many more operations since, but it means the bright and bubbly youngster can play football, cricket and ride his bike.
The now nine-year-old, who wanted to be called Mad Dog, referred to Dr Wagels as a “hero”.
“Since my accident, I have always wanted to do something special to help the hero that saved my hand,” he said.
“Mummy and Daddy have taught me to be very grateful, now it’s my turn to help them.”
After surgeons saved Maddox’s hand, creating a special new one for him, the Porter family did what any family would want to do – give back to those who had helped their son.
Maddox’s Helping Hand was formed, and on Thursday, they set a goal to raise $75,000 to build a new facility at the QCH.
At present, the world-first, lifesaving procedures are available only at Brisbane’s PA Hospital.
Mrs Porter, in addressing the 180-strong crowd at Thursday’s fundraising luncheon, said the family had become quite close with the doctors who rescued her son’s hand.
“We got lucky that Easter Sunday and the fact that Dr Wagels happened to be on call,” she said.
It took some persuading, but eventually Dr Wagels told the Porter family of ACCISS’s need for funding to deliver lifesaving surgeries to children at the Queensland Children’s Hospital. Their goal on Thursday was to raise $50,000, which would be matched by the Queensland Children’s Hospital to set up a satellite site.
An extra $25,000 would go towards software and technology documents to train doctors at the PA Hospital.
The new ACCISS space at QCH would be called Maddox’s Helping Hand at the Queensland Children’s Hospital.
Both of these projects will go ahead thanks to fundraising efforts that rallied together $89,000.
“We way exceeded what we were aiming for, which is amazing,” Mrs Porter said.
Dr Wagels in his speech said the amazing stories weren’t from the health care workers, but the patients and families.
“It’s their passion and drive to help facilitate some of the things that we are trying to make happen,” Dr Wagels said.