EK's Jade prepares to fly to the USA for life-changing surgery

Jul 21 2010 by Lynda Nicol, East Kilbride News

THE FUNDRAISING is now behind them and schoolgirl Jade Mitchell and her mum Pauline are getting ready to jet off this Saturday to the USA where the youngster will undergo life-changing surgery.

But on Friday, Pauline, husband Robbie and other family members and friends took time out to throw a party to say a huge thank you to the hundreds of people who helped raise an amazing £65,000 to more than make Jade’s Journey possible.

The event was originally planned for the Murray Owen Centre.

But, at the last minute, South Lanarkshire Council announced they could not get a drinks licence in time and the party had to be switched to another venue.

After a frantic hunt for an alternative, luckily Legends in the Village came up trumps and even waived the fee for the use of their function room.

On the night around 80 hard-working fundraisers turned up to enjoy a free buffet and disco courtesy of the Mitchell family as their way of saying thank-you.

It was in Jade’s gran Glenis Bonini’s words “a brilliant night” with everyone having fun and letting their hair down.

A special thank you goes from the family to Legends, to D Russell McLachlan who donated his time and equipment to make the party go with a swing, Sandwich Express who contributed towards the buffet and to everyone who managed along and to those many other generous people who could not make the celebration but who gave of their cash, time and effort to make Jade’s Journey a reality.

And Pauline and Robbie would like to give a huge thank-you to her sister Deborah, who forfeited her night out to babysit Jade, her sister Erin and baby brother Anthony, to allow them and the other adult family members to go to the party.

Two more donations to the Jade’s Journey fund were also added to the total at the weekend – £320 from Joy Munro, whose daughter Sharon used to work with Glenis at Little Scholars Nursery in East Kilbride.

Joy raised the cash through a sponsored swim.

And £240 has been received from TR Fastenings Limited, Blantyre, who held a quiz night.

On Sunday there was a second party.

This time it was Jade’s turn to have a few close friends at Fuzzy Ed’s (formerly the Funky Forest) in Peel Park.

Around 17 youngsters attended and all of them had a terrific time.

Jade’s family would like to express thanks to Fuzzy Ed employee Martin, who gave five complementary places and to Laima Heaney, who kept the children entertained brilliantly.

Jade and her mum Pauline are now packing their cases in preparation for flying out to the USA on Saturday.

St Vincent’s Primary School pupil Jade suffers from spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy which affects her legs.

Next week she faces spinal surgery at the world-famous St Louis Children’s Hospital in Missouri to cut the nerve in her back to enable her to walk properly.

And, a few days later, she will undergo a second operation on her legs to lengthen her calf muscles.

Following the second operation, she will spend a few more days in hospital and then, for the following week or two, will have to make daily visits back to the hospital so doctors can continue to monitor her progress.

On her return to Scotland she will also require physiotherapy.

Meanwhile Jade’s dad Robbie, with the help of Pauline’s mum, Glenis Bonini, will remain back home to look after Jade’s siblings Anthony, who will soon be two, and four-year-old Erin, who is due to start school next month.

The family have pledged that when Jade returns to Scotland after her surgery, they will handover all of the spare cash to help another child requiring life-changing medical help.