To commemorate his 30th birthday, the family and friends of a Kilmarnock man who died four years ago after being disabled in a car accident gathered £10,000 for critical spinal injury research.
Jamie Hay was just 16 years old when the automobile in which he was a rear seat passenger went off the road, causing him to sustain life-changing injuries. The promising Hurlford footballer was wheelchair-bound and tragically died in 2014 from sepsis.
His cousin Natalie has since organised a series of fundraising events including 10 and 5k runs and race nights to keep Jamie’s legacy alive and support research into spinal cord injury.
Now, on what would have been Jamie’s 30th birthday, family and friends came together at Hurlford Community Centre for a special charity night to celebrate his life.
Natalie, 28, said: “It wasn’t just Jamie’s family that attended, but also many of his old school mates and members of the local community. It had been ten years since his death, and it would have been Jamie’s 30th birthday, so we wanted to do something special. I was completely delighted by the outpouring of support and generosity from individuals and local companies for the raffle and silent auction. I cannot thank them enough.
Every four hours someone in the UK is paralysed after a spinal cord injury. It can happen to anyone at any time. Natalie, a police officer in Police Scotland’s mounted division, is an ambassador for the charity Spinal Research, the UK’s leading charity funding research into the repair and restoration of the spinal cord to cure paralysis.
Louisa McGinn, Chief Executive, said, “Natalie is an inspiration and an excellent champion for Spinal Research. We are really grateful to her and Jamie’s family for all they have done in his memory. It’s incredible that we were able to fund £10,000 from this event in honour of Jamie’s 30th birthday.
“We’re in touching distance of function restoring treatments for people paralysed after a spinal cord injury and we really appreciate every single donation that brings our vision of curing paralysis a step closer.”
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