Theos Hope for sound assisted by Community Link Foundation with help From Natwest Commercial Office, Liverpool

A team of 14 friends and colleagues co-ordianted by staff from Natwest Commercial Office in Liverpool took up a fundraising opportunity to do some bag packing at their local Morrisons store and raise over £1000 for Community Link Foundation to pass to Theos Hope For Sound.

Theo’s mum Imelda has applied to Community Link Foundation for a grant to assist in her efforts to allow Theo to hear, that grant application is currently awaiting a decision but in the meantime Community Link Foundation had secured a bag packing opportunity at Morrison’s and also had contact with Natwest who wanted to help Theo also and so the great staff at Natwest volunteered to do the bag pack.

Imelda explained “Theo is our beautiful blue eyed baby boy and everyday for the last 8 months I have told him how much I love him and he smiles back at me and I know he loves me too but he doesn’t hear me as he is completely deaf. We have known since Theo was a week old that he was profoundly deaf and with the added complication of his deafness being classified as auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder aka ANSD (a rare and unusual deafness). We were distraught on hearing this news but we hoped he would be eligible for a cochlear implant after we discovered hearing aids weren’t working for him. Unfortunately we were then advised that an implant would not be possible. Then we heard of an Auditory Brainstem Implant AKA a bionic Ear and this is Theo’s only hope for sound, otherwise it’s a life of complete silence. If it sounds scary it’s because it is! There are only a handful of specialist surgeons worldwide who are able to implant a tiny device into the actual brainstem where hearing is processed. An ABI will at a minimum give him Environmental Noises but with lots of therapy and hardwork maybe even speech”
We have set up to try and raise the £100,000 required the give Theo hope for sound and anyone wishing to get involved please visit the website
http://www.theoshope4sound.org/

We are so grateful to receive the support of Community Link Foundation and Natwest Bank in this way and will continue working towards our target

David Barron, Chairman of Community Link Foundation explained “when we first received the grant request for Theo we all wanted to help straight away, as a small charity we do have to be very mindful of our funding and only review grants every 3 months, we were however able to use our contacts to but this bag pack in place and help boost the fundraising for Theo and create awareness of how others can help, this is a small step and we hope to help further in the future”

Ruth Kirby from Liverpool Commercial Office said: “Community Link Foundation allowed our staff to use this bag packing opportunity to support Theo, this is a cause very close to us and we just want to help Theo as much as possible and will continue to do so. There are so many ways to support Theo so please visit the website for information”

The Community Link Foundation is the charity for the people of Southport, Formby, Ormskirk, Ainsdale, Burscough, Hesketh Bank, Rufford and Banks, and the communities within these catchment boundaries. We have a passion for supporting the people and organisations within our Community and invest in the people who live in it so that we can all be proud of where we live.

For more information please contact:
Ron Hutchinson – Head of Fundraising
T: 01704 531080
E: rhutchinson@clfoundation.co.uk
www.clfoundation.co.uk

Theo’s Hope for Sound
help us give Theo a chance to hear by raising funds for an Auditory Brain Stem Implant

For more information please contact:
Imelda Sankson
T: 07412945241
E: theoshope4sound@gmail.com
www.theoshope4sound.org