(peaceful guitar music)
- My name is Marelle Thornton
and I am the mother of Katie, who is now 41.
Katie was born with cerebral palsy.
My association with Cerebral Palsy Alliance has been
as a supporter, of course, as a service user
and as its longstanding chairman and president.
Well, Cerebral Palsy Alliance began formally
as The Spastic Centre in 1945 by a group
of very concerned parents who had exhausted every avenue
for treatment and training and education for their children.
And so began a long history of services
and of support to families of children with cerebral palsy.
When our Katie was about nine months old and diagnosed
with cerebral palsy, she began services.
She began support therapy, physiotherapy,
speech pathology, occupational therapy
with the then Spastic Centre.
As a family, we were being so well supported
and so empowered by what was being done with
and for our daughter that we felt we wanted to give back.
So we began contributing to the organisation
through its fundraising efforts.
And that's how our association in the long term began.
My hero in my association with the organisation
has been its founder, a lady called Audrie McLeod,
who was a woman out of her time,
who was brave enough at a time when women
were seen and perhaps not heard, in the early 40s
to garner support, to beg, borrow or steal,
to satisfy her passion for all of those children living
with cerebral palsy and to support all the families
who were bringing their babies and their little ones
to then the organisation.
My motivation and of course my inspiration
is my daughter, Katie, and the struggle that she has had
to achieve the amazing things that she has achieved
in her life in spite of her considerable disabilities.
We helped her to make her Will.
In that process, she was very adamant that any little
that she had, she would like to leave
to Cerebral Palsy Alliance so it could help other people,
I guess, enjoy the sorts of activities and achievements
that she enjoyed through her life as a result
of the support of the organisation.
Well, the Circle of Hands is a beautiful community
of people who have a vision for investing into the future
by leaving a bequest to the organisation
to support its work into the future
for the babies that are born today, tomorrow, yesterday.
They will need the remarkable services of this organisation.
My message to people when they're considering a bequest
in their Will would be that it is a marvelous way
to invest in the future, not only of people
with cerebral palsy and their families, but to invest
in the future strength of our community.
By strengthening people with disabilities,
people in special circumstances, you are strengthening
the community as a whole.
And I think that is a marvelous
and generous investment in the future.
A bequest made to Cerebral Palsy Alliance can be applied
in many different ways.
One of my passions is research.
For Cerebral Palsy Alliance, how important is it
that we find out the best ways to manage the condition,
the best ways to support families, how we can minimize
the impact of cerebral palsy.
And this can only be done through research.
Any bequest in a Will, be it ten dollars, ten thousand, ten million,
it will all be put to very, very good use,
very, very good purpose in supporting people
with cerebral palsy and their families.
A gift of hope.
It's an investment in future.
And it's just a lovely way to express your passion
about a cause such as ours.
(instrumental guitar music)