joe jarmey

Hello All,

My names Joe

On Saturday, 30th October, I jumped out of a plane from 12000 feet in order to raise money for two very worthy causes, CHAOS and The Oliver Pool Trust Fund. Please help in any way you can, contributions no matter what size all help to make a big difference.

Oliver Pool Trust Fund

Oliver is 20 and is at university in Manchester studying BSc in Psychology. This is where we first met two years ago. He is disabled and suffers from a condition called Spinal Muscular Atrophy, he cannot walk or sit unsupported, in fact, he can do very little for himself. Please visit www.jtsma.org.uk for information on this condition. There is no Government funding available to buy or maintain Olly?s chair, his local village charity of, Wraysbury, managed to raised the whole £20,000 to get the new chair that Olly needed as his old chair was falling into disrepair. However, since then, Olly has lost weight through a new swimming regime and strict diet, the ch... more

Hello All,

My names Joe

On Saturday, 30th October, I jumped out of a plane from 12000 feet in order to raise money for two very worthy causes, CHAOS and The Oliver Pool Trust Fund. Please help in any way you can, contributions no matter what size all help to make a big difference.

Oliver Pool Trust Fund

Oliver is 20 and is at university in Manchester studying BSc in Psychology. This is where we first met two years ago. He is disabled and suffers from a condition called Spinal Muscular Atrophy, he cannot walk or sit unsupported, in fact, he can do very little for himself. Please visit www.jtsma.org.uk for information on this condition. There is no Government funding available to buy or maintain Olly?s chair, his local village charity of, Wraysbury, managed to raised the whole £20,000 to get the new chair that Olly needed as his old chair was falling into disrepair. However, since then, Olly has lost weight through a new swimming regime and strict diet, the chair now needs urgent attention as Olly is not getting the correct support for his back which causes discomfort and increased practical problems in operating the chair. Oliver needs a completely new seat for his wheelchair and further adaptations to his chair and was having trouble funding it, so I decided to do the Sky dive to help raise the money as this will cost at the very least £250 for the adaptations, or more likely a few thousand pounds for the new seat.

Oliver is something of a 'pioneer' for younger disabled people and is always stretching the boundaries for the disabled. An example of this is how he organises his own care and lives independently. Oliver needs 24/7 care. Most people rely on an agency or social services to supply the care, often not having any choice of who and when someone comes. Oliver is able to advertise and select his own PAs, he organises his own rota, employs them directly and lives a normal life. Olly also provides support to other young adults affected by SMA and those around them by volunteering for Jennifer Trust by acting as a agony uncle, responding to emails and writing articles about independent living for their quarterly magazine, SMArt. We recently went on holiday together with another friend for a few days during the summer which was the first time he has been away in years and the first time without the family which has provided him with the confidence to explore the world independently. I hope you will see that Oliver is worthy of your support. He is compassionate and despite all that he has to put up with from life; he is always considerate towards other people's feelings and always has a positive outlook on life's obstacles.

Oliver's History Oliver was born on 14th November 1989. A normal, healthy baby in every respect, or so everyone thought. When Oliver was seven months old his parents became worried because he couldn't crawl or sit without toppling over. In September 1990, Oliver was diagnosed as having SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy). The prognosis was not good - a life expectancy of ten years. The condition is genetic. It affects the Anterior Horn Cells in the spinal cord. These cells are the ?middle man? when sending messages from the brain to the muscle. The muscles waste due to lack of use. It affects muscles throughout the body, except the face. The condition is progressive; muscles become weaker as the child grows. Because the condition is progressive Oliver is unable to do things now, which he could do when he was a little boy. Family videos and photographs of when he was younger can be heartbreaking to see. Oliver is on a ventilator at night time to help his breathing. A simple cold or cough can quite easily turn into a life threatening chest infection or pneumonia. In September 2001, Oliver underwent major surgery to his spine. Because the muscles in the spine are so weak a curvature (scoliosis) forms and his already weak chest would become crushed. It was a difficult decision to go ahead with this operation; the anaesthetist was worried that Oliver's chest would not be up to the 8 hour operation. But without this operation, Oliver would become more twisted, until he would not be able to sit up at all. His life expectancy would have been dramatically reduced. Oliver spent three weeks in intensive care. But all through his ordeal, he remained positive and worked his socks off to get better. Since his operation Olly is living an unusually active life for someone with such a restrictive disability, he is brimming with confidence and has always got a positive outlook on life. What his mum, Julie had to say: 'Oliver is very, very comical. He loves a laugh and joke, he has a wicked sense of humour. We are very proud of him and his achievements. He has brought into our world the joy that any other child would bring and more. There is no end to his ability to enjoy himself.'

CHAOS

I volunteer for CHAOS (Children's Holidays And Other Specialities, a children's charity in my area of East London. C.H.A.O.S. is a local charity, staffed by passionate volunteers and funded solely by their fundraising efforts. It gives around 60 children each year the opportunity to truly be children for a week where they otherwise simply would not be able. Our camps provide our children with a safe, nurturing, learning, loving and most importantly, FUN environment where they can just be kids. They learn a great deal about a new environment, team work and how to look after each other through team games, nature walks, camping, and beach activities. Many for the first time in their lives! The joy that this charity brings to their lives is absolutely invaluable in terms of the confidence it brings the children, the break it allows them from the daily hardships of their lives, and the break that their families can have over the summer from their youngsters.