Mitsubishi dealership raises thousands to help boy walk

A Mitsubishi dealership has raised more than £5,000 towards surgery that will see a six-year-old Bristol boy who has severe cerebral palsy walk, sit and stand unaided.

Bristol Mitsubishi, in Feeder Road, St Philips, held a special fundraising event for Oskar Pycroft, with
staff paying to wear fancy dress, and a raffle and cake sale also being held.

The money is a huge chunk of the £50,000 needed for the selective dorsal rhyzotomy procedure as well as the pre-op assessments, post-surgery checks, rehabilitation and early after-care that Oskar, who is in constant pain, will receive.

It was initially feared the youngster, who lives in Whitchurch, Bristol, might have to go to the USA for the life-changing operation, as it was taking so long to get an answer on whether or not surgeons would do it privately in this country - Oskar didn't qualify to have it performed on the NHS, missing out because of extremely tight criteria - but after 18 months the go-ahead for private surgery in the UK was given, meaning the fundraising total tumbled from the £70,000 that would have otherwise been needed.

"I'm enormously grateful to Bristol Mitsubishi for what they've done. I've been quite amazed and astonished by it all. People have been so generous and they've really taken everything on board and got behind Oskar and are making it happen," said his mother Lizzy Pycroft.

"It's heart-warming to know that there are people out there who just do these things because they want to make a difference, and the money that Bristol Mitsubishi has raised has made an enormous difference."

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