Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Let me introduce myself, my name is Cameron Foster and I would like to tell you about my story. Six years ago whilst on my first ever school trip I had a serious accident during a skiing holiday in Pila, Italy  when I fell 40 feet from a ski lift breaking both legs, dislocating both ankles, breaking my right arm and having a severe bump to my head. I was only 9 years old at the time in a strange country unable to speak the language and my parents were back at home in England, it was a very traumatic time.

Fortunately I made a full recovery from my accident, however during my rehabilitation I realised how difficult it was to participate in sport as I spent nearly 6 weeks in a wheelchair and as a result it was so difficult to join in with my friends in all the sports I was so used to playing like football, cricket and karate. With this in mind, once I had recovered I decided I wanted to help children who were less fortunate than me who were permanently disabled and it was this that made me want to make a difference and I organised a sponsored walk to raise funds for the Wigan Disability Sports Forum. With the help of all my family and friends I managed to raise over £5600 some of which was specifically used to fund and organise Table Cricket and Boccia within the borough of Wigan.

This was only the start of my fundraising activities for a number of different charities including Cystic Fibrosis, Sport Relief, Derian House, Manchester Children’s Hospital raising more than £15,000 to date.

Perhaps just as importantly as the fundraising is the volunteering work that I have become involved with since my accident. I have been privileged to be involved with the Wigan Sports Development unit where I help with a weekly session coaching young disabled children in multi sports; I also coach at summer camps for children during their summer holidays.

I also coach karate, cricket and Basketball at numerous sessions during the week spending over 15 hours a week on a pure voluntary basis. I really enjoy working with both children and adults and get tremendous satisfaction of being able to help people develop in their chosen sports.

I have been fortunate to be rewarded for my achievements to date although that isn’t the reason why I fundraise and volunteer. My awards include: British Red Cross Humanitarian Fundraiser of the year and the overall Citizen award. A gold Blue Peter Badge, The Diana Award, Wish FM Child of Courage award, Wigan Borough Un-sung hero in sport award, Greater Manchester runner – up un-sung hero award, StreetGames Local Hero award and The Helen Sodhi Award.

I have recently been honoured with becoming 1 of 10 national Coca Cola Future Flame Ambassadors for the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay promotion.

I am really proud of my volunteering and fundraising activities and am so excited and privileged to have been successful in securing a position with a cricket based charity “Cricket Without Boundaries” which is a 2 week project in an African country coaching young children in the community and giving adults the opportunity for coaching qualifications whilst incorporating HIV awareness. This is where I need to make a plea, as a result of committing to the project I need to raise £700 to fund my travel expenses to Africa and also raise a minimum of £750 for the charity.

I know times are extremely tough in this current economic climate but I would be extremely grateful if you could make any kind of donation to help me in this very worthy cause.

 

THANKS ALL!