Jennie Austin
Jennie takes on the Spinnaker Tower, Gunwharf Quays Portsmouth
Fundraising for Wetwheels Foundation
Story
Hi all
Now that I have put full time work in the City behind me, I am devoting sometime to really worthwhile causes.
I am a director of Wet Wheels Hamble and we really need your help to get more disabled men, women and children and their so very deserving carers onto the water to help their worries float away and extend their boundaries!
2019 is a particularly tough one for us financially, we needed new engines to start the season and finding the money for that leads us to desperate measures .... including stepping off a very very tall building!
Helping get people of all ages and all disabilities onto the water with our specially adapted powerboat is very rewarding. People's lives can be changed in just 90 minutes - for many it's the first time they feel the movement of the waves, wind in their hair and get splashed with salt water. This sensory experience is truly inclusive, builds confidence and improves aspirations and well being.
One family told us - 'We came out with you last August. It was the greatest family day for us as we left Ethan's autism at the shore'
If I can raise £500 that will help provide 2 trips and get 20 people out on the water!
https://www.wetwheelshamble.co.uk
Finally please read this little poem written for Wet Wheels by an 11 year old boy, who suffers from Duchene Muscular Dystrophy and was confined to a wheelchair as a result. It sums it all up for me.
Legs that worked was so much fun, I’d spin, hop and run,
Jumping, skipping, rolling around, laughing hard I’d fall to the ground.
That’s now a dream, laying in bed, happy days spinning round my head.
Remembering as things used to be, before being taken away by DMD.
Life’s different in my wheelchair, I’m angry, sad, life’s so unfair,
On the sidelines, that’s how it feels, no-one plays with me in my wheels.
I long to feel, happy and free, soaring like a bird, over the sea,
Skimming waves, bouncing around, jumping up and down,
Laughing loud, sea splashing my face, I’m winning a race!
Sun kissed, happy, I’ll feel the breeze, rustling my hair, tickling my knees!
Ending the day snuggled in bed, magical feelings racing round my head.
I’ll remember what Wetwheels gave to me,
Mason Fearnley, as he was meant to be.