Bid to raise £5,000 for Telford woman's wheelchair
A Telford man is trying to raise £5,000 in order to buy his wife a new wheelchair.
Because Lee Ellis and his wife Mel work full time, they are unable to get any help for the new chair, which is vital for her independence.
At 13, in 2001, while training for the British Finals in Trampolining, Mel had an accident and broke her neck.
She spent 6 months in hospital learning to do the most basic of functions again and has been confined to a wheelchair ever since.
The couple met in 2006 and married in 2010.
Lee, who works at Young Options college in Shifnal, said: "I cannot begin to tell you how much strength she has shown over the years to get to where she is at.
"Mel works full time and doesn't ask for handouts or pity. We get up at 6am every day and get her ready for work. She struggles everyday but makes no excuses.
"Her current wheelchair is literally falling apart, it is held together with bits of wood and tape, and it serves as her legs.
"It helps her to get in and out of bed, onto the toilet and in and out of the car. If this thing breaks then we are both in trouble because I am struggling to lift her just lately and it kills me to not be able to help her.
"Although we both work, its a lot of money for a new chair and we don't receive any help to buy a power chair.
"I will be doing various fundraising events to try and raise money towards a new one."
Lee, 34, and his wife live in St Georges, and Mr Ellis is a prolific fundraiser who has previously helped raise money for the Kelli Smith Appeal, and was inspired to help Melbourne seven-year-old Hayley Brown, from Melbourne in Australia, after pictures of her went viral after she lost all of her hair, except one eyelash due to chemotherapy.
But now he has brought his fundraising closer to home. So far he has raised £1,295 towards the new wheelchair, with £320 of that raised within the first hour of his appeal being launched.
He also plans to shave off his beard to raise further funds on June 25.
He said: "We've already had an incredible response so we'd like to say thank you.
"I expected to get a couple of hundred pounds for the beard but it has gone crazy."
To donate to the appeal, visit justgiving.com/crowdfunding/AChair4Mel
Lee has also asked for companies who make wheelchairs to contact him to try and find one which will be most suitable for Mel's needs. His email address is lee_ellis82@hotmail.co.uk
