My beautiful daughter, Maddison (that’s her in the picture), was born missing her right hand. We found out at the 20 week scan, a scan that my wife had to be at on her own due to covid. Upon hearing this news, my mind allowed me to think that it was some form of recompense or retribution for any and all of the negative things that I had done in my life - like some form of karma that I had manifested through bad choices. Of course I know that this is neither logical nor rational but that is how it played out within my head in private. These thoughts laid heavy on my mind and I found this very difficult to talk about with anybody, which in turn impacted my relationships with those closest to me. I remember going to Whitstable with Rachel and Spencer the weekend after we found out: I have never looked at so many hands,  and each time I did I’d get this wave of sorrow and guilt rising from inside me. 

We were contacted by a specialist consultant to discuss the implications of this on her life and the possibility of further complications and the specialist informed us of a charity called Reach that supports families who have been in the same position as ours. I contacted Reach, who put me in contact with a wonderful family that we have met up with multiple times since and who we now consider friends. I cannot thank Reach, or the Paxton family enough for sharing their experiences with us and welcoming us into their community and offering us support, guidance and an opportunity to see all of the amazing accomplishments that their members achieve. This to me has been the thing that I value most as it has allowed me to picture the future and feel positive and inspired! 

I have always (well not always!) wanted to run the London Marathon and have entered the ballot for at least the last 7 years and have been unsuccessful every time, and every single time I received that email I breathed an enormous sigh of relief. I’ve never felt compelled to run and raise money for a charity as I’ve always thought that the training would be hard enough on its own before taking fundraising into account. With Reach, the fundraising aspect is part of the motivation for me and I am sure that my family and I will have the opportunity to meet many of the families that these donations will affect firsthand at one of Reach’s many organised events or in social media posts that I follow. I will forever be indebted to Reach and its members for how they have supported my family and welcomed us into theirs. 

So please give what you can, every little makes a difference and each and every penny will go to use  supporting families like mine, who without charities like Reach would not know where to turn. 

Danny and family xx

From Reach :Reach is a wonderful community of families that come together to support each other, the charity enables this to happen by funding activities and time for our Reach children to get meet up and spend valuable time together. Reach works with academic institutes to undertake research to help support parents and children.Reach offer bursaries for children to have adaptations made when the ableist world we live in lets them down.The support Reach offers families is invaluable and without them many children and parents would feel isolated and alone.Please donate what you can.