Family’s joy as fundraising target reached

A MOTHER SAID she was “astonished and humbled” after the Jewish community funded a life-changing £40,000 operation for her son.

Four-year-old Asher Carroll from Brighton has cerebral palsy caused by a stroke he suffered before he was born, meaning he cannot stand or walk independently.

He uses a standing frame, walker, special chair and leg braces, and his physical condition will only get worse as he grows. But after starting a campaign in December, his parents Kate Blok and Andrew Carroll have raised enough to pay for an operation in the US which Ms Blok said represented “his one chance of walking”.

T h e Asher Carroll operation, a selective dorsal rhizotomy, will reduce his pain and the stiffness in his muscles, but is not routinely funded on the NHS.

This means Asher would have had to wait 18 months to have the operation in England, which would have cost £30,000.

Now his surgery with a world-expert medic in Missouri is planned for April. Ms Blok said the family was “overwhelmed”.

“We’re feeling a whole range of emotions. On the one hand we are very excited at the opportunities that this operation could give him, but we’re also frightened, because it’s a major four-hour neurological procedure on his spinal cord.

“But we’ve spent a year and a half researching this, and we believe it’s the best thing we can do for him.”

MsBloksaidastoryaboutthefamily’s campaign in the JC in January had generated “a phenomenally generous response”, including donations from across the community and assistance from the Camp Simcha charity.

https://www.justgiving.com/ashersfund