Handstands for Hayden
RHYLL’S Hayden Marshall was involved in a horrific accident in September last year.
The Newhaven College Year 11 student was practising gymnastics on his trampoline at home when he lost control and landed awkwardly on his neck.
He fractured four neck bones, damaging his spinal cord. The 17 year old was immediately airlifted to the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne for a seven-hour surgery.
Still, he remains paralysed from the chest down.
On Sunday, Newhaven College’s oval was filled with activities including an abseiling tower, graffiti wall, jumping castles, giant slide, billy carts and plenty more for a fundraiser for Hayden and his family.
Renowned duo The Pierce Brothers headlined the entertainment program that included The Laing Brothers, DJ BANDO and Newhaven College bands.
A classic car and motorcycle show ‘n’ shine added even more wheels to the day’s entertainment and there was excellent food including wood fired pizza, spit roast, sushi, baked potatoes, sausage sizzle, coffee, Devonshire tea, a licensed bar and loads more.
More than $30,000 was raised on the day.
“It was a great sense of community, not just the college, and speaks well of the type of community we have,” Newhaven College principal Gea Lovell said.
“It was great to see people coming together for such an event. A few thousand people attended and all of the local businesses that contributed were outstanding.”
Just six months ago at age 16, Hayden was living his dream life.
Years of dedication to his sporting passion, gymnastics, had rewarded him with a gold medal on the horizontal bar at the Victorian championships. He was a gymnastics coach with the YMCA in Cowes and could see a bright future for himself in the gymnastics field.
Now on the road to recovery, Hayden is committed to an ongoing intensive rehabilitation program and has spent much of the past six months living at the Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre in Kew.
He has transferred his gymnastics training discipline to his rehabilitation program with great determination and focus.
Hayden, his family and specialists, all believe he can regain more function in his body with continued hard work and treatment.
On April 3, Hayden will commence a three-week stint of neuro-physics at a specialist centre on the Gold Coast.
The outcome of that treatment will determine whether Hayden will then travel to the USA for further therapy.
There are endless expenses associated with Hayden’s treatment that include wheelchairs, renovations to the family home to allow wheelchair access, car modifications, and travel for treatment and checkups.
Entrance: from left, Wil Lone, Cailen Lone, Hayden Marshall, Lou Curtis-Smith, Pati Hughes and Bella Harrison rode to the Handstands for Hayden event at Newhaven College on Sunday.
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Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Mar 28 2017. Filed under Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
