Early Christmas lift for Thomas

ALL aboard . . . Trudy and Stephen Lees (left) with their sons Jimmy and Thomas check out their new car. Also pictured are fund-raisers Steven Nicholls (second from right) and Paul Adams

CHRISTMAS has arrived early for Thomas Lees: friends and family have rallied round to buy him a special wheelchair lift

The 12 year old, from Diggle, suffers from cerebral palsy and needs a wheelchair to get about. As he has grown, the Newbridge school pupil’s parents Steve and Trudy have struggled to lift him in and out of their car.

So godfather Steve Nicholls and his friend Paul Adams organised a fund-raising bash at Austerlands Cricket Club and raised almost £7,000. Other friends, such as local cystic fibrosis sufferer Sophie Wheeler, chipped in more to push the total to £7,500 — enough to buy a specially-adapted VW Caravelle with a lift to get Thomas in and out in his wheelchair.

Organiser Steve said: “The new car will give Thomas and his family a lot more freedom. He was getting too heavy to lift in and out so this new car makes getting out and about a lot easier. It will take that stress and worry away for them.”