Each year AJH Cricket aims to champion the work and fundraise for a good cause each year. 

This year, we are delighted to announce that we will be working extremely closely to fundraise for the Aiden Cox Foundation.

Here is a little more about Aiden and the work of his foundation.

 

Aiden was born at the extreme limit of survival, just 24 weeks gestation, he survived 2 catastrophic brain haemorrhages, chronic lung disease, and heart surgery all before he was 6 weeks old. Any one element of his ‘shopping list’ could easily have killed him but, against all the mounting odds and the disbelief of his medical team, he survived.  

Wonderfully and remarkably Aiden’s intelligence is unaffected but unfortunately his body and movement are severely affected. He has no reliable independent movement and constant muscle spasms. In reality this means he cannot even perform the simplest of tasks like scratching his nose let alone sitting independently or walking, yet inside he thinks and feels just like any other 13 year old boy.

 

Our intention over the next 5 years is 3 fold: We need funds in place for when Aiden needs his next chair, we need to address the immediate issue of his functional independence and we need to maintain his health and wellbeing.

 

1. Regarding his mobility, Aiden’s chair needs replacing every 5 years. These next 5 years will see him grow from a new teenager into an 18 year old young man. As he grows and becomes stronger and the mechanics of the chair simply wear out, we will need to make sure that we have £20,000 in place to fund his next chair.

 

2. Our next and more immediate challenge for him is to become more functionally independent in his everyday life, mainly through the use of specially adapted computers. We visited NAIDEX earlier in the year, an annual trade show of equipment and services for disable people. We looked for computer equipment that may help to open up a more independent life for Aiden as he progresses through his teenage years into adulthood. A rough estimate of a system for Aiden would be between £4,000-10,000. We will however have a clearer idea of costs in due course.

 

3. Finally our fundraising includes vital therapy at The Advance Centre in East Grinstead. Aiden has been attending Advance since he was 18 months old for ongoing therapy that allows him to breathe better and with greater ease. Neurologically damaged children have compromised respiratory systems which encourage a downward spiral of both mental and physical disabilities. The therapy at Advance helps to break and reverse this spiral allowing a more natural pattern of development to take over. For each 2 years of therapy at Advance we need to raise £2,000.

 

Fundraising for the Aiden Cox Foundation will begin on New Years Day.

 

To donate please click the donate now button.

 

On behalf of the Cox family, I thank you for your generosity.