O'Fallon Kiwanis Club Lends a Helping Hand

Members of the O’Fallon Kiwanis Club recently lent a helping hand to a Kiwanis family from Southern Australia. Rebecca Mattinson was traveling to Missouri to bring her son for therapy at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Seven year old Thomas has Cerebral Palsy and after a previous surgery (SDR) in St. Louis, he was back for therapy to help him walk. His mother, Rebecca Mattinson and grandmother, Angela Heath accompanied him. A call was out for any Kiwanis Clubs in the area that could help donate to this family who had come so far. After contacting Rebecca our members learned that they had just ordered Thomas a walker for $600. O’Fallon Kiwanis Club President Martha Radginski, Secretary Tom Shea and his wife Jan, plus club member Ed Radginski met the family in the lobby of the Chase Park Plaza Hotel to make the donation to pay for his walker. Thomas had just started walking on Friday and was even jumping around. It was great to meet this precious family. Thomas was excited that he was to get a baseball glove. The family planned to take the Metro Link to visit the Cardinal’s Stadium so he could do just that. The Genelg Kiwanis Club from the city of Adelaide in Southern Australia had raised $9,000 for Thomas to make this trip and Rebecca talked about holding many bake sales and a fashion show on her own in order to raise enough money prior to their trip. The next part of their journey will be to spend two weeks at the Walk this Way USA – Specialist Therapy Centre for Cerebral Palsy in Houston for walking therapy. O’Fallon Kiwanis Club members were honored to help Thomas on his way to meet his goal to walk.