Hugo Duggins-Jones, 3, was diagnosed with Hereditary Ataxia when he was around 18 months old. It causes difficulty with balance and co-ordination, speech, vision and swallowing.
His family and friends fundraise for therapies and equipment almost constantly, mainly by taking on running challenges and organising quiz nights. But last weekend Hugo took part in his own event, the Superhero Tri at Dorney Lake in Eton.
With the help of his physios at Mini Wonders Children’s Physiotherapy in Little Baddow, Hugo swam 150 metres, ‘cycled’ 3km in his wheelchair and ‘ran’ 1km – mainly in his chair but making it over the finish line with his walker, raising more than £1500.
Hugo lives in Maldon with his mum Becky Duggins-Jones, 34, a bank nurse and dad Charlie Duggins-Jones, 34, an operations director. Becky said: ‘Since Hugo’s diagnosis we’ve taken on a lot of fundraising races – half-marathons, even a 5km inflatables race! But this is the first one which Hugo has taken part in himself and we’re really proud of him.’
‘So far we’ve raised around £13,000, but Hugo’s needs are ongoing so we need to continue our efforts, for new equipment as he grows but mainly for physiotherapy, which makes such a huge difference for him.’
‘Physiotherapy costs £95 per session and we like him to go once a week. We also took him to an intensive session in Portugal which was incredible – he learnt to crawl – so we’d like to be able to take him back to that again.’
The family is being supported by children’s charity Tree of Hope, which helps families raise money for children and young people like Hugo for medical treatments and healthcare services not freely available to them through the NHS and social care. The charity provides fundraising guidance, campaign development, financial management, charity registration and emotional support from the Family Support team. Families like Hugo’s benefit from having the support, tools and resources to fundraise effectively as well as access to gift aid, corporate support while also
providing donor reassurance.
Tree of Hope CEO Becky Andrew said: ‘We wish Hugo and his family all the best with their fundraising activities. We are pleased to give them support in reaching their fundraising goals.’
To donate to Hugo’s fund, visit https://www.treeofhope.org.uk/get-involved/childrens-campaigns/hugo-duggins-jones/
