Aoife was born with Spina Bifida, a condition which affects thousands of babies every year and can cause severe disability. Children with severe spina bifida often need life-long medical and surgical intervention to support their mobility and independence.
Sadly, beautiful Aoife passed away aged just five years old.
Matt, her father, explains why they now support Sparks, “We wanted to support a charity that would try and get to the source of the problem and help another child to be born healthy. What Aoife endured might become totally preventable in the future.”
Sparks funds research into the cause of Spina Bifida, and now Matt and Shirley are dedicated fundraisers, working hard to help other children and their families.
The couple are truly inspiring people and have raised over an incredible £19,500
for Sparks so far. “If we can help at least one child in the future that will give us some element of comfort,” says Matt.
Matt and two of his friends took on the mammoth challenge of cycling from Lands End to John O’Groats in July 2011. They cycled around 100 miles each day for nine days. Matt says, “Aoife pushed herself beyond all limits so I wanted to do something that really pushed me as well. Aoife never let anything stop her and she epitomised that her condition doesn’t have to hold you back”.
“Aoife would laugh her head off at what Matt has done, she had a wicked sense of humour,” says Shirley, “But she would be so proud to see him cycling up mow cop hill, the killer mile.”
Shirley herself recently ran the Manchester 10k to raise money. “We’ve never done anything for charity before, apart from making donations, but we want people to know that it shouldn’t take something tragic to happen to inspire you to make a difference. Everyone can make a difference to a child of the future by supporting Sparks”.
While folic acid supplementation is known to prevent some cases of spina bifida, others do not respond and there is currently no alternative prevention therapy.
Sparks is funding a project which investigates whether using a similar vitamin-like substance in combination with folic acid can prevent cases of spina bifida