Wheels for Xavier, help Xav get his first set of wheels. If you want to donate or have an idea for a fundraiser to help Xavier please contact us
Xav is 16 Years old and attends the Sale Specialist School. He has Cerebral Palsy and a sensory processing disorder. Xav relies on a wheelchair and a walking frame to get around. We are in the process a getting a motorised wheelchair which will give Xav a great sense on independence. However there is no reliable transport for Xavier to attend school and access the community once he receives his new chair. A regular car is not capable of transporting Xavier and his chair.
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Xavier was born 7½ weeks early on the 2nd of September 1999. He weighed 3 pounds and 13 ounces. He was tiny. When he was about 8 months old his mother Christel started to get concerned. He wasn’t hitting any of his milestones. He would lie on the floor on his back and not do much more.
One of the happiest kids you would ever meet.
The diagnosis
Xavier has a prognosis of Developmental Global Delay Cerebral Palsy and a sensory processing disorder. For Xavier it means he relies on other people to assist him in all aspects of his life. He needs help to eat, to drink, to dress, to brush his teeth, to comb his hair, to bath, to go to the toilet, to get into bed, to get out of bed, to get into his walking frame, to get into his wheelchair, to go to school and to be able to be part of our everyday world.
Communicating with the world around him
He is a beautiful boy that needs lots of help. He is unable to use speech and relies on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) to communicate. He has a Pragmatic Organisational Dynamic Display (PODD). Xavier is currently learning to use and develop his skills with a Dynavox Maestro speech generating device. He is able to communicate a variety of messages such as commenting,requesting, relating information, telling jokes. He is cheeky and his laugh and smile are really infectious.
Why does Xavier need a van?
He is not the little boy that he was! So Xav’s family need to be able to get him in and out of their family car easily. They are also no longer able to push him around for extended periods in his manual wheel chair. So, Xavier will be moving to a motorised assisted wheelchair so that he can continue doing the things that he loves. This also means that the family’s current car is going to have to go.
Another reason for the Van is that potentially the family will now be able to have a carer assist Xavier on family trips enabling Xavier to have some more independence from Mum and Dad.
The Van also gives Xavier the option to store his Walker with him as well as his wheelchair, currently he has to choose on which one he takes with him.
Why are you fundraising for the van?
Unfortunately there is not much funding available to help Xav’s family purchase a new family car. This is why they need to fundraise to get to their goal. It may seem like a lot of money for a car, but this is no ordinary car. Once a car is purchased it will need to be modified to be wheelchair friendly. This cost of the modification to the vehicle alone is around $80,000! At the moment the only government funding available to the family to help with this is a maximum of $10,000, which can only be granted if the vehicle is brand new..
Community support has been wonderful so far and Xav’s family are very appreciative to any kind of support. Even after how busy the Dirksen/Hallworth family are with Xav and his two younger brothers, who adore Xav may I add. Tony and Christel both give back to their community when they can. Tony is a volunteer at the Loch Sport CFA and Christel is training to be a volunteer Ambulance Office in Loch Sport also.
