Home   News   Article

Subscribe Now

Wisbech family with poorly boys bowled over at support for fundraising efforts




A Wisbech family committed to raising awareness of a rare disease isn’t letting the coronavirus crisis get in their way.

Ben and Sarah Dodkins have been working towards raising funds after two of their three sons were diagnosed with a life-limiting and degenerative neurological disease.

Sons Finley and Harrison both have Juvenile Battens Disease and have been affected by strand CLN3, which will slowly take their sight, their memory, their physical abilities and eventually will take them from their family. Meanwhile middle son Arthur is free of the rare genetic disease and CLN3 strain which currently affects just 30 children in the UK including his brothers.

Finley Dodkin, (left), with his brothers Arthur and Harrison (right).
Finley Dodkin, (left), with his brothers Arthur and Harrison (right).

The family is close to reaching their target of £10,000 and even though this year’s planned fundraising events - a sponsored bike ride and a celebratory event afterwards - have been cancelled due to the crisis, money is still rolling in.

Sarah said: “We are so close to hitting our target and that’s without the boys even having done the ride!

“The ride has been postponed and although we haven’t set a new date for it yet, we think it’ll be next year before it happens.

The Dodkin family. (37026150)
The Dodkin family. (37026150)

“Instead, to keep the momentum going, we launched virtual bike ride challenges for everyone to take part in, plus Sarah-jane Macdonald and Steve Tucker, of Three Counties Running Club, have completed their amazing challenges too.”

The money raised will be split between the Batten Disease Family Association (BDFA) which offers support to families coping with the disease, and creating memories for the boys from their wish list which includes a helicopter ride, meeting a dolphin and making a chocolate bar in a factory.

However, the fundraising activities are also part of the family’s quest to raise awareness of the disease and what the BDFA does.

Sarah said: “We were so close to losing the charity last year due to a lack of funding which would have been awful as there’s no one else out there. They are lovely people who do an amazing job in supporting us.

Sarah and Ben Dodkin with sons Harrison, Finley, and Arthur (17058671)
Sarah and Ben Dodkin with sons Harrison, Finley, and Arthur (17058671)

“We are really getting the word out now and people are becoming aware which is great.”

On June 9, International Batten Disease Awareness Day took place and Sarah pulled out all of the stops to mark the occasion, filling the house with balloons and baking cakes - all in orange - which is the official colour of the awareness campaign.

Sarah says that support from residents and businesses in the area has meant a lot to the family and has proved a huge help in difficult moments.

She said: “Ben and I are both Wisbech born and bred, but we never knew how much support was out there until we found ourselves in amongst it.

“People have been doing all sorts of different things to help to spread the word and to help us too.

“The boys are doing really well, Harrison is still symptom free and Finlay’s eye sight has stayed the same which means we are still able to make visual memories, things like going to Lapland last December which was the most incredible experience of our lives.

“We are in a really positive place but that’s only down to all of the support we have received.”

For more information, or to donate, please www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/pedal4memories



Comments | 0
This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies - Learn More