Our Mission!

On 20th or 21st October myself (Joe) & my best friend (and brother in law) Dean Richards will be embarking on a fundraising mission for Mackenzie - a 10 year old local boy that desperately needs life-changing Scoliosis operation to straighten his spine.

We will be attempting to visit all 44 premier and championship football clubs in a record breaking 48 hour time period, by car. Taking a "selfie" together outside each one and picking up some special club memorabilia along the way!

We are also hoping to secure this as Guinness World Record too - we will keep you posted!

Our current plan will be to begin at Bristol City and finish at Bournemouth. At the moment Swansea, Newcastle and Norwich pose the biggest challenges for us. But we are considering trying to hijack the live TV game of the day for greater exposure for our cause.

Upon our return, we will be throwing an event at which we will be auctioning off the memorabilia which has been donated from each club along the way. Details to be announced nearer the time so stay tuned!

Why are we doing this?

We've been inspired to help Mackenzie after meeting him and his family while assisting at a previous fundraising event. And felt so touched by his ability to look past his disability and still have a fun loving zest for life with a smile on his face that it compelled us to want to help him be the energetic normal young boy he should be.

Mackenzie is also a very sociable and outgoing 10 year old who enjoys all things ‘boys do’; football, scooters, bikes, cars and wrestling around with his younger brother Regan.

Mackenzie was diagnosed with Scoliosis at eight months old and was referred to a Spinal Consultant in Taunton. At the age of two his curves had progressed.

He has been checked every six months with an X-ray to monitor his condition. In the last six months however his curves have progressed at an alarming rate.

Mackenzie’s check-up in December 2017 showed that his main thoracic curve was 50°. He had his six monthly check up in June 2018 and his main thoracic curve has jumped to a devastating 70° meaning that surgery now has to happen in the next 3 to 4 months - so much sooner than anticipated.

Mackenzie requires VBT (Vertebral Body Tethering) treatment. However, this treatment isn't currently available through the NHS in the UK right now.

The aim of VBT is to correct scoliosis while still preserving spinal flexibility. It is a much less invasive operation and continues to allow the spine to grow. It involves placing screws in each vertebra (bone of the spine) at the front of the spine over the length of the curve. The screws are connected by a flexible ‘cord’ to partially correct and tether the long side of the curve whilst allowing growth of the curve potentially producing further correction of the scoliosis.

As stressed above, VBT is only available in the UK at the moment on a self-fund basis.

We'd like your help!

VBT surgery is the best way forward for Mackenzie. It will give him the chance to grow and remain as flexible as possible throughout the rest of his childhood and adolescent years.

As you can imagine the cost of the surgery & aftercare is a huge (£65,000) and way beyond Mackenzie's parents reach in such a short time. This is why Dean and I have joined forces - to help raise as many funds as possible through this event and help secure the life changing surgery Mackenzie needs.

Thank you so much reading this and for your support! Please copy the link's below & spread them to help us reach our goal.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/club44in48

Joe & Dean :)

To read Mackenzie's story in full please visit: https://www.gofundme.com/039make-my-spine-straight-please039

To follow Mackenzie's journey online you can visit the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MackenziesVBT/