Raising funds for SIS The Forbes Boys

By Jill Forbes

Spinal Injuries Scotland has many loyal and committed supporters who raise money for the charity in a variety of ways.

SIS is hugely grateful for this help and without the generosity of these fundraisers the services provided to members would be greatly reduced.

If you have not actively raised funds for us before there are lots of ways you can do so Options like sponsorship for sporting activities, walks, marathons, dressing up days, or daredevil antics. You can also hold bake sales, car boot sales and host fundraising events.

It is easy to set up online pages for donations and this can help make raising the cash a lot simpler.

SIS can help you if you want to try a challenging abseil, a parachute jump or some other type of unusual challenge. Get a group together that are willing to have a go and contact SIS on 0141 427 7686 or Freephone 0800 0132 305.

We will then help you make your idea into a fundraising reality.

To be honest, we organised bag packing, a race night and a bake sale/raffle but it was all fundraising for my two sons Jarod and Drew to go on an expedition to Morocco with their school. Although when there they would be assisting a community project with the Berber villagers of the Atlas Mountains with water installations, they still had to raise their own funds to go on the trip.

On 15 November 2015 they were both seriously injured in a car accident. Jarod was 17 at the time and had two emergency life-saving operations whereby parts of the bowel was removed and mesh was put in the stomach as it had perforated. The second operation involved him having a Stoma to help the bowel recover and he faces the reversal operation on 17 June. Drew was 16 at the time and had similar bowel surgery, a torn aorta and an L2 spine fracture – they didn’t think Drew was going to make it.

Both boys are amazing and now back playing football. Despite their remarkable recoveries, they can no longer go on the trip to Morocco which is this month as playing football is one thing, digging trenches for two months is quite another, plus Jarod’s reversal operation is mid-way through the Morocco trip.

We then decided to donate the money raised for the fundraising to Scottish charities to do with the car accident. Half went to Spinal Injuries Scotland relevant to Drew’s injuries and the other half to the Breakaway Foundation relevant to Jarod’s injuries. Although it is quite a story, we never set out to raise money for SIS but we are glad that such good could come of such a serious accident and hope the fundraising helps!

Jill donated £500 and Gift Aid of £125 took the total to £625 – a huge thank you goes to her and the boys.