By Ian McDonald
Dec 009

Just 6 weeks ago while I was out training for the Big Walk a thought struck me. I had entered for this Charity event more often than not for the past 20 years but this time, I was going to use the opportunity as a means for my own personal “Charity” – Andrew Merryweather from Camps Bay. Is there anyone in Cape Town and beyond who has not read of Andrew – this courageous young man who, despite his disability has not been embittered by his misfortune?

Andrew, general manager of the Restaurant at the Theatre on the Bay has been known to me since he was a teenager and a more positive and cheerful personality has yet to cross my path. As I pounded along around the canal in Pinelands I knew it was I who was going to lead Andrew to his independence. He has been confined to life in a wheelchair for over 3 years ever dependent on either his girl friend Robyn or a member of his staff to transport him in his faithful little Ford to get to work, go shopping – anywhere – Andrew always relied on someone. There must be some way around this situation.

After many hours spent canvassing, chiefly with business and medical communities and 2 Retirement Villages within and close to Pinelands, I had achieved sponsorship and donations to the tune of just over R22,000. One person I approached was my mechanic who has faithfully serviced my car for the past 10 years – Richard Cousins. I gave him my usual spiel to extract what I could for my cause.

There followed 3 miracles which convinced me that the gods had indeed played a major role in this project.

The 1st miracle
Richard said to me “Ian do you know that I am the only agent south of the Limpopo who can set Andrew up with a device known as a Co-Driver” “Tell me more”, I asked. Richard wasted no time in showing me a picture of the nifty device which he would install into an automatic car. I left Richard on “cloud nine” and wondering whether Andrew’s car was an automatic. A quick call established that it was not. Whereto from here?

The 2nd miracle
A meeting with the sales representative at Fords, did not realise my expectations but somehow Andrew’s fairy godmother from Fresnaye had heard of our meeting and invited herself to join us. Whilst in the car park at Fords she said to me “I have a BMW. I would like to give it to Andrew” I was overcome and after having lunch at News Café we went our separate ways knowing the gods were shining on us.

The 3rd miracle
The Big Day also known as the Big Walk dawned for me at 5h00. The weather was ideal for walking – continuous rain and no wind!! Perfect for the 25km trek. I was pleased with my time of 4hrs,7mins and 10secs. However that was not all, there was one special drowned rat to welcome me home – Andrew and the photo says it all. The following week everything slotted into place – the handing over of the BMW, the fitting of the Co-Driver and Andrew now busy practising his skills as an independent driver.

My sincere thanks to each and everyone who made this possible. I am proud of the Pinelands community and everyone else who contributed to the success of this project.

To the future

The story doesn’t quite end there. Our project for 2010 is to take Andrew’s independence a step further by making it possible for him to dispense with the wheel chair and WALK. Sometime ago Andrew told us of a product he had read of on the internet, called the Re-Walk, which is in the final stages of development in Haifa, Israel. In brief it is a suit that may be worn either inside or outside of normal clothing - this will enable the wearer, with the aid of crutches to walk up and down stairs, up slopes, move from a sitting to standing position and the reverse. Should you wish to learn more their website is www.argomedtec.com. Naturally this product will not come cheaply – probably in excess of R300,000. Planning has already commenced for major fund-raisers for Andrew in 2010 and we will of course give you more details of these as they develop.

Here are our contact details

Ian McDonald
Phone/Fax: 021 531 8261
cell: 084 4274 570
email: pattypan@iafrica.com