Keegan continues to make steady but slow progress.
Last week Sally wrote and said that there is a definite reaction when he
is spoken to, that he tries to hear and moves his head to listen.
Today she reported that he was more attentive and obviously listening to
people. He has begun to move his
tongue – raising hopes that soon he may be able to speak and eat!
A visit from his best friend and a long chat seemed to leave them both
exhausted! All of this can
only be encouraging.
Last week he was given Botox injections into his arm
muscles to release them and facilitate further physio.
Botox takes some time to take effect, but already there seems to be a
slight relaxing of previous tension.
This
week has been marked by two huge fund-raising efforts in Harare.
On Wednesday night 190 well-wishers gathered at Highlands Park for dinner
and an auction primarily of IPL memorabilia.
By all accounts, the success of this event surpassed all expectations.
All present seemed to enjoy the evening, and $12,800 (net) was raised for
Keegan. We note our profound
gratitude to Alistair Campbell and Danny Morrison, as well as Craig Evans who
conducted the auction.
Organising and managing such an event takes an
incredible amount of hard work, and
here I would like to make special mention of Sue Hawthorne, Debbie Leared,
Sheila Dodington, Brenda Brown, Peeps Reid and Mark Saunders.
On Sunday morning almost 1069 supporters converged on
the Borrowdale Race Course to ‘Walk for Keegan’.
The response to this appeal and the solidarity displayed was quite
overwhelming. It was so
gratifying to see colleague schools, in particular Peterhouse, St Johns, St
Georges, Springvale, Lilfordia and Ruzawi, heed the call, and come out in
numbers. We may be
rivals on the sports fields, ‘but a friend in need……….’
All of this was due to the vision and extremely hard
work of Joy Wicks, ably assisted by Sue Hawthorne and Mark Saunders. Words are
inadequate to express our gratitude.
Hearts were touched by this amazing turnout, and in
total $20,000 (net) was raised. Sally
Langley, keeping vigil as always at Milpark, walked around the hospital in
solidarity!
Well done HARARE !
You guys have really done us proud this week, thank you so much.
Let us remember this as the week in which ‘Bambazonke’
became ‘Nikazonke’.
(For the uninitiated around the world, bambazonke means ‘grab
everything’ and nikazonke means ‘give everything’.)
Thank you all.
By the way, Bulawayo’s turn is coming next week !
So the fundraising continues apace (and it needs to!)
Keegan’s costs to date amount to approximately $120,000.
The Trust has so far raised $98,000 in cash.
Donations in kind have been received, valued at over $25,000.
Meanwhile costs continue to rise at the rate of about $1,000 per day.
So we still have that mountain to climb.
But with people like the Harare folk, we can make it.
So once again, our grateful thanks to you all.
UNTIL NEXT WEEK………